Far-right activists harass viewers of joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day ceremony


È in inglese ed è lungo ma fa vedere che schifo di società abbia messo in piedi Netanyahu e, più in generale, che schifo di società ci si può aspettare dando il potere all'estrema destra.

Da Haaretz.

At a ceremony in Jerusalem marking Israel's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks, PM Netanyahu said that "Iran's ayatollah regime planned another Holocaust" and that had Israel not acted "against this existential threat… the names of sites like Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan might have joined those of the Nazi death camps – Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka."

At a military cemetery in Tel Aviv, two protesters held up signs reading "government of death" during a speech by Minister Ofir Sofer and clashed with other attendees who tried to snatch them. At a ceremony in southern Israel, members of the crowd heckled National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, saying, "you are dividing us."

On Monday night, about a thousand Israelis and Palestinians gathered to mourn the lives lost on both sides of the conflict in a joint ceremony held simultaneously in Israel and the West Bank. As a result of far-right activists attacking attendees in recent years, the Israeli section took place in an undisclosed location in Tel Aviv. The locations of screenings weren't made public for the same reason.

However, dozens of agitators, one associated with police minister Ben-Gvir, arrived at one in southern Tel Aviv and disrupted it by playing loud music and shouting "death to leftists" and "your mother is a whore." Some harassed attendees and followed them after they left the screening. Earlier this week, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi demanded that Israel's public broadcaster not play a radio ad about the ceremony, calling it a "provocation in the guise of reconciliation."

Ayala Metzger, whose 80-year-old father-in-law Yoram was kidnapped on October 7, 2023 and killed in Hamas captivity, said at the ceremony that she decided to "fight to create a reality here that allows safe lives for everyone," so that "his life would not be in vain." Muhammad Da'das, whose 15-year-old nephew was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in 2021, said in a video address: "Enough pain … enough loss … We are here because, despite our wounds, we have chosen to raise our voices, and to believe that this reality is not an eternal fate."

On Tuesday, Haaretz learned that the Israel Police closed the case against right-wing activists who assaulted people in a screening of last year's ceremony in central Israel. Police questioned five suspects, mostly minors who allegedly attacked police officers, but did not interrogate those suspected of assaulting spectators. Police said they couldn't identify the suspects, despite considerable video documentation of the incident from various angles, including live broadcasts posted by some of those who participated in the attack.

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