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Arab-Israeli journalist sues Likud activist over racist harassment

85 0
08.03.2026

Arab-Israeli journalist Lucy Aharish and her partner, actor Tzachi Halevi, filed a lawsuit against Rami Ben-Yehuda in the Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday, suing the Likud activist for 2.6 million NIS ($840,000) for leading a racist and violent harassment campaign against the couple.

Channel 13’s Aharish and “Fauda” star Halevi are seeking compensation for defamation, serious invasion of privacy, trespassing, and violation of freedom of movement, among other claims.

There were multiple demonstrations at Aharish’s Tel Aviv home last month, as right-wing activists, including Ben-Yehuda, shouted at her with a megaphone phrases such as “Inshallah you have a heart attack” and “Bibi is king,” using the nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The lawsuit specifically notes that on February 21, Ben-Yehuda and fellow right-wing activist Mordechai David entered the couple’s apartment building while their minor son was home and began shouting. Both were detained by police on suspicion of trespassing and disturbing the peace.

Ben-Yehuda and David were later barred from approaching Aharish’s home or contacting her for a period of 14 days.

Additional offenses, according to Israel Hayom, include publishing an edited photo of Aharish against a background of an Iranian flag while calling her a “terrorist” and showing her wearing a hijab. Ben-Yehuda also called Halevi a “traitor,” claiming that he had “sold his soul to Palestine.”

Retweeting the Israel Hayom article, Aharish said “the next ones in line were on the way.”

According to the lawsuit, Aharish had to be given security protection at her workplace due to the harassment that she suffered and had to cancel a planned lecture at Stanford University.

Aharish raised the ire of the right wing as a critic of the government and as an Arab woman with a Jewish partner. Her detractors were riled further when she delivered a February 1 television monologue panning the coalition over its response, or lack thereof, to a wave of deadly violence sweeping Israel’s Arab community.

Last month, Aharish said that the activists were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “goons” and warned on her show that “the blood is on the hands of whoever was silent” if anything were to happen to her, her family, or other journalists.

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