A group of leftist anarchists on Tuesday morning protested outside Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s home in Modi’in. They burned tires, blocked the entrance to the residential street with barbed wire fences, and up a display they called “dictatorship hot dog from Levin Deli,” and declared that “today it’s already clear to everyone who really controls the country and is leading it to destruction.”
The police used tear gas and arrested six suspects, including a man who was involved in burning a tire, for violating public order. Multiple tires were burned at the anarchist protest.
If ever there was a rally that was highly produced and financed by a well-organized command center – this was it.
כעת מול ביתו של שר המשפטים: פעילי ״אחים לנשק״ מפגינים נגד יריב לוין וחוסמים את הכביש. גם צמיגים הובערו כבר pic.twitter.com/L1wby7BzA0
— רן שמעוני Ran Shimoni (@ran_shimoni) June 27, 2023
The protest was kept secret, and most of the demonstrators had no idea what was planned and showed up in response to the call they received through their WhatsApp groups. With the number of protesters dwindling (last Saturday night the demonstration on Kaplan Street, which degenerated into violence, was the smallest since the start of the protests, some six months ago), the organizers applied what they had been discussing in conversations that have since been exposed: fewer protesters, more action. And the few dozen who showed up Tuesday morning did so out of their need to belong to something greater.
In the briefing they received they were told that “the goal is to establish two things – the message of the display is that Yariv Levin is the de facto prime minister, who took over from the weak prime minister. We present two hot dogs from the Yariv Levin deli – it’s not salami anymore.”
מפגינים נגד הרפורמה מחו מול ביתו של שר המשפטים לוין @hadasgrinberg pic.twitter.com/Pc0jCpaJgL
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 27, 2023
The briefing on WhatsApp stated: “We are at the beginning of the second act. Even if part of the public is lethargic, this is how the salami works. We have five weeks until the summer break, and what we do is crucial.”
By “summer break” they referred to the Knesset summer session, during which the coalition is determined to pass at least a small part of its judicial reform.
Before the protesters arrived at the justice minister’s home, they received an in-person briefing from an organizer who stressed: “This is very important – no violence. No fighting. This is altogether a demonstration. Do not get close to the house, do not confront the police. The strength of this protest is that it is calm and non-violent.”
תזכרו את זיהום האויר שהאנרכיסטים חוללו הבוקר מול ביתו של שר המשפטים וראש הממשלה הבא יריב לוין, כשהם יצעקו על המדורות בל"ג בעומר. pic.twitter.com/ROCWzHT9mM
— igal_malka_II (@igal_malka_II) June 27, 2023
This last part was necessary over the arrest Monday night of anti-reform activist Itzik Medina in Petah Tikvah (Police Detain Anti-Government Activist for Allegedly Planning Attack Against Public Figure), who said following his release: “I was accused of planning to harm public figures. I do not threaten anyone. We are law-abiding people and we will continue what we do.”
According to Channel 14 reporter Shirel Lalum Nehari, upon seeing Medina on TV, she recognized him as the protester who attacked her 6 months ago, when she was pregnant and reporting from one of the protests.
זה האיש שתקף אותי בפתח תקווהhttps://t.co/CTB9bo5Yg5
— שיראל ללום נהיר?? (@shirellaloom) June 26, 2023
According to the Police, the commander of the Central District, Superintendent Avi Biton, instructed his officers “to deal with them decisively while arresting suspects, removing the hazard from the road and analyzing means of documentation to identify and arrest others on suspicion of violating public order.”
Minister Yariv Levin complained in a post that not only didn’t the police didn’t show up within any reasonable time, but that the police were also not taking the calls from the Ministry of Justice’s security officer.
Almost like what they do in a country of laws.
