Police forcefully arrest man standing near right-wing protest without clear cause

Plainclothes officers detain man as demonstrators praise them; police say he disobeyed officers’ orders, ‘reeked of alcohol’

Police forcefully detained a man Saturday night seemingly for no reason, after he silently stood in front of right-wing protesters holding a small demonstration in Tel Aviv. It is unclear what action by the man warranted the arrest.

In footage of the incident, the man, apparently in his 20s, appeared to be standing idle on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets as a man shouted at him through a megaphone, taunting him: “Look, another wimpy leftist being tough.”

“We came to their home turf, the state of Tel Aviv,” continued the protester.

Two plainclothes officers in the crowd asked the man to move away, but he refused and continued to stand silently. The policemen then forcefully shoved him to the side of the road and arrest him. The man did not resist arrest.

In the background of the video, a right-wing activist was heard commending the police as they arrested the man, saying: “Great cops, I adore you, Israel Police.”

The man was handcuffed, arrested and brought to a Tel Aviv police station, then released a few hours later without being interrogated, Haaretz reported.

Responding to the outlet’s request for comment on the incident, police said that the video presents a “partial picture,” claiming it was “preceded by several attempts by the police to remove the suspect from the scene, who did not obey instructions and reeked of alcohol.

“In order to prevent disorder, confrontations and provocations, the police arrested the suspect, who was released shortly afterwards at the station. However, the actions of the police in the field will be reviewed and, if necessary, lessons will be drawn accordingly,” the statement continued.

Gonen Ben Itzhak, a lawyer who does pro bono work for anti-government protesters, accused the officers in the video of acting unlawfully.

“Those who approach him [in the video] are police officers in civilian clothes who do not identify themselves the entire time, contrary to police regulations, and even attack him violently without reason, to the applause and instructions of the right-wing activist,” he wrote on X.

Anti-government protesters and opposition lawmakers have accused police of taking an increasingly aggressive approach toward demonstrations, claiming that far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees law enforcement, exercises undue influence over police policy.

The man’s arrest on Saturday night took place several days after prominent protester Moshe Radman was summoned for questioning by police in what activists denounced as a “political interrogation.”

Officers questioned him on suspicion of disorderly conduct after he allegedly encouraged protesters to block a street during a march in Tel Aviv. He was released after interrogation.

Earlier this month, Alec Yefremov, a civics teacher who heckled Ben Gvir during a Hebrew University graduation ceremony in Jerusalem, was also detained by police. Although he had already been escorted out of the event by campus security for his remarks, police on the minister’s security detail still arrested and handcuffed him. He claimed he was strip-searched later at the police station.

Police said officers arrested him after he allegedly refused to stop shouting at them. “He refused, continued cursing the officers, hurled degrading remarks at them, and disrupted public order. As a result, the suspect was arrested and taken for questioning at the police station,” they said in a statement.

The Department of Internal Police Investigations, which probes police officers suspected of criminal offenses, opened an investigation into that arrest.