Protesters shout Smotrich off stage at conference
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was shouted off the stage at an annual conference by right-wing newspaper Israel Hayom on Tuesday in Ashkelon.
The incident indicated a lack of support for Smotrich, chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, which has seven Knesset seats but which recent polls show falls short of the electoral threshold of 3.25% of the vote.
Several people in the audience shouted that Smotrich should be ashamed of the October 7 Hamas massacre and asked how he could sleep at night with 133 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
A person in the audience was given a microphone and introduced herself as Gal Pahowitz from Kibbutz Dorot near Gaza. She asked Smotrich, “How are you sitting here with a pin to honor the hostages, when you do not see the reality in which we are living, economically, security-wise, and regarding the hostages?”
In response, Smotrich said he did not want to return to the divisive reality of October 6 and would not respond. But he added: “There is some small extremist minority who are trying to lead Israeli society to divisiveness, evil, and hate, [and] there are no buyers in Israeli society for the hate that you are selling here.” He then left the stage.
Smotrich addressed the incident in a Facebook post. He reiterated his commitment not to return to the discourse of October 6 and wrote: “Unfortunately, in the recent period, a loud but small minority is taking over the discourse violently and trying to return us to the destructive days of hate and divisiveness.”
Smotrich called them “October 6 people” and accused “some media outlets” of magnifying their claims “out of all proportion.” He called on readers of the post “simply not to participate” in such discourse and to “let them shout at the walls.” He had decided to leave the stage after the organizers failed to gain control over the “handful of anarchists,” he wrote.
Protesters also shouted accusations at Education Minister Yoav Kisch (Likud), who appeared at the conference soon after Smotrich. One protester accused Kisch of supporting a continued exemption from IDF service for haredi men.
Kisch refuted the claim, saying while his experience has taught him that haredim cannot be drafted by force, he was committed to a solution that will lead to real change and an end to inequality.