Netanyahu slams protesters after clashes at Tel Aviv prayer service

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned protesters who clashed with congregants on Thursday at a morning prayer service led by Rabbi Leo Dee in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv.

The service was originally intended to have three sections - men, women, and mixed - but photos from the event showed only two sections segregating men and women.

Tel Aviv security officers arrived on the scene and removed the partition as protesters disrupted the prayer and the conflict even became physical.

Speaking on the incident on Thursday evening, Netanyahu called on protesters to "be ashamed of themselves" after "pushing Rabbi Leo Dee, who lost his wife and two children in a deadly terror attack. Only because he wears a tallit [prayer shawl].

"There is no limit to the hate and madness," the prime minister said.

The event was similar in smaller scale to those of Yom Kippur where protesters and congregants clashed at prayer services being held in public spaces with gender segregation.

Dee, whose wife and two of his daughters were murdered in a terrorist attack earlier this year, had told The Jerusalem Post earlier this week that he was leading the prayer because “the idea that Jews aren’t allowed to pray openly anywhere they want in the country is contrary to [his family's] values" as people who made aliyah.

Tel Aviv a dangerous place for religious Jews? 

Later on Thursday, he told Army Radio that the service was for "the Tel Aviv religious people who are scared of these people and think they are prayer disruptors" and was aimed at showing them that the protesters only make up a small group.

פראי אדם שקמים בבוקר ומחליטים לעשות רק רע - מול אדם שחרב עליו עולמו שלוש פעמים בפיגוע אכזרי, ומחליט בכל בוקר לקום ולעשות טוב. ליאו די, אתה גיבור ומופת עבורי, אני מחזק אותך, תמשיך להפיץ אור! pic.twitter.com/TkadDhwa4D

— Boaz Bismuth (@BismuthBoaz) October 5, 2023

One video from the event showed a man pushing past Dee as he prayed while holding the Four Species used on Sukkot. The footage drew outrage from members of the coalition who spoke out against the protesters.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir condemned the incident.

"The footage that shows Leo Dee, whose wife and two of his daughters were murdered in a terrorist shooting in the Jordan Valley, being pushed by a protester at Dizengoff Square just because he dared to pray and hold the Four Species in the streets of the city is shocking and concerning," he said. "I instructed the police to act diligently against those rioters just as they arrested those who spat at [Christian] pilgrims."

Ben-Gvir had been planning his own prayer service in the square last week and cancelled it at the last minute after his fellow government urged him not to go through with what they said would be a provocation.

"Tel Aviv cannot become a dangerous place for the traditional, religious, and haredi public," said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. "The responsibility is on [opposition leaders] Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid. The protest has become a demonstration against Israeli tradition. This is dangerous. Stop!"

Religious Zionist Party MK Simcha Rothman, who chairs the Legislation Committee, said he intended on calling a special meeting to discuss the issue.

"They attacked a man who lost his wife and daughters to terrorism, a pleasant man who calls for unity all the time and was covered in a tallit (prayer shawl) and holding the Four Species in the heart of Tel Aviv," he said. "The responsibility for this incitement is on Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz who waited for approval from [protest leader] Shikma Bressler before half condemning the attack on Yom Kippur."

"The hatred of parts of the extreme Left for anything that carries the scent of Judaism is horrible," said Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf. "Rudely pushing a man who lost his wife and daughters, and whose only crime was to dare pray with the Four Species in the streets of the 'inclusive and liberal' city is an unprecedented low."

"Anyone who still aligns with this protest is part of a hateful and humaneless herd," said Coalition Chairman Ofir Katz. "Jewish tradition has won for thousands of years in the face of violent attacks. It's bigger than you."

This incident came as Religious groups have been fighting with the Tel Aviv Municipality and the courts to allow Simchat Torah events to take place with gender segregation in public spaces.

On Thursday morning, the religious organization Tzohar asked Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai personally to approve every community to hold events as they have in previous years.

"Don't let extremists from every side destroy what was built with hard work over years," wrote Tzohar Chairman Rabbi David Stav in a letter to Huldai.