The Reform Movement filed a police complaint against Likud Ra'anana branch chair Racheli Ben Ari Sakat and the "B'Tzalmo" organization for incitement and calls to violence ahead of a violent riot during a screening of a joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony on Tuesday, the movement announced Wednesday.
Police arrested three suspects in Ra’anana after right-wing rioters clashed with event attendees at the joint event on Tuesday. Four police officers sustained light injuries after they were assaulted. The suspects were transferred for questioning at the police station, and the continuation of their detention will be determined based on the findings, according to a police statement.
הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם
"We will not stand by as a handful of extremists choose to desecrate a sacred day for all of us — Memorial Day — through violence, dishonoring the memory of the fallen and undermining the foundations of Israeli society," the Reform Movement said in its announcement.
Adv. Orly Erez-Lahovsky, Director of the Israel Religious Action Center, who was among those wounded in the riot, will submit the complaint.
“What we witnessed last night was a horrifying display of hatred and violence by Likud activists and other far-right extremists, who chose Memorial Day Eve — one of the most sacred times in the Israeli calendar — to launch a violent attack against those who believe in peace and coexistence," the movement said.
"Today we are filing this complaint against incitement — to prevent these extremists from further harming the delicate fabric of Israeli society, a society that longs to live in a democratic state committed to peace and the human rights of all its citizens,” the movement concluded.
The Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum and Combatants for Peace organized the joint Remembrance Day event.
The 30 alternative memorial attendees were evacuated from the Reform synagogue in which the ceremony took place when the violence erupted.
“It is unfortunate that on this day, when we commemorate our loved ones lost in the cycle of bloodshed, there are those who choose to silence us with violence. We will not stop our struggle for peace, justice, and security for both peoples,” the event organizers commented.
Organizers of the Right-wing demonstration against the event
The local Likud party branch in Ra'anana organized the demonstration against the Remembrance Day event.
"Friends, this evening we will hold a national protest against the memorial ceremony for the Nukhba terrorists in Ra’anana," the head of the local Likud party, Racheli Ben Ari Sakat, said on the Likud Ra'anana Facebook page.
"The Left has lost its mind, and the public in Ra’anana must come out in full force to prevent this disgrace.Please, everyone—today we take to the streets in a show of right-wing strength against this shameful event," Sakat continued.
"While we stand for a moment of silence, in Ra’anana there is an attempt to equate the fallen soldiers of Israel’s wars with Nukhba terrorists and to desecrate the honor of our children—IDF soldiers—who fought in Israel’s wars for the sanctity of the land and in death gave us life," she said.
In a later-deleted post, Sakat posted footage of the riots on the same Likud Ra'anana Facebook page and wrote, "Thousands came today to protest against the traitors of Israel in Ra’anana who held a Memorial Day ceremony for both sides. To the Left in Ra’anana, I say – this is just the first salvo. Don’t test us,” according to Israeli media.
The organization, Brothers in Arms, commented on her statement, saying, "The explicit threat by the head of the Likud branch in Ra’anana regarding a 'first salvo' proves that this is not about a few bad apples, but a deliberate policy by the ruling party, which is effectively sanctioning violence against citizens who seek to exercise their freedom of expression."
"When official Likud representatives back a pogrom at a synagogue and the violent silencing of those calling to end the war and bring all the hostages home, it poses a grave threat to democracy," the organization noted.
Left-wing politicians condemn the rioters
Democrats MK Gilad Kariv said on X/Twitter that he was in the emergency room with the deputy director of the Reform movement, who was wounded after a rock was thrown at her car by a “Kahanist hooligan” at the event. He said that there were two other women wounded by stone-throwing.
He said that the synagogue was targeted in an attempted pogrom “because it hosted a screening of the Joint Remembrance Day Ceremony, which Rabbi Mickey Boyden originally established.”
According to Kariv, in July 1993, “Rabbi Boyden’s son, Yonatan, an outstanding soldier in the Orev Reconnaissance Unit, was critically wounded in an incident in the south Lebanon security zone. He died of his wounds two weeks later.”
Kariv commented, “What connection is there between the mob that stood outside the synagogue today shouting ‘Death to Arabs’ and ‘May your village burn,’ and the sacred memory of IDF fallen and terror victims?
“Hooligans emboldened by state-backed enablers who turn a blind eye. Hate-driven barn burners. Public desecrators of God’s name. We will not allow you or your patrons to destroy the Third Temple,” Kariv concluded.
The It's Time coalition, comprised of 60 organizations, also commented on the event. “Tonight, violent thugs tried to disrupt the Joint Remembrance Day Ceremony,” the coalition said. The coalition said the event organizers work “to end the war, bring everyone home, and make peace.”
“Anyone who attacks one of us is attacking all of us. The peace camp is done absorbing and staying silent. Whoever tries to drive us out of a synagogue in Ra’anana will find us at Binyanei Ha’uma in Jerusalem.”
Democrats party chair Yair Golan commented on Wednesday, saying that the violence was “a direct and clear result of ongoing incitement, abandonment, and the legitimization of political violence from the top.”
Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri said on X, “The Likud party is organizing a violent campaign, attacking and desecrating worshipers in a synagogue in the State of Israel. Not a single minister or Knesset member has spoken out — this is a coordinated and planned campaign of violence and incitement that knows no bounds.”