Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, was shouted off the stage on Tuesday at an annual conference held in Ashkelon by the right-wing newspaper Yisrael Hayom.
The incident was an indication of the lack of support for Smotrich in the right-wing camp. Smotrich, whose party currently has seven Knesset seats, has consistently failed in polls to pass the electoral threshold of 3.25% of the general vote.
A number of people in the audience shouted that Smotrich should be “ashamed” because of the October 7 Hamas massacre and asked how he could “sleep at night” with 133 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza. At one point, a person in the audience was given a microphone.
She 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?”
Smotrich responded that he was not willing to return to the divisive reality of October 6 and would not respond. However, he then said that “there is some small extremist minority who are trying to lead Israeli society to divisiveness, evil, and hate.”
“No buyers in Israeli society for hate”
He added that “there are no buyers in Israeli society for the hate that you are selling here.” He then left the stage.
Smotrich later addressed the incident in a Facebook post. He repeated his commitment not to return to the discourse of October 6. Still, he added that “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 also 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” and explained that he decided to leave the stage after the organizers failed to gain control over the “handful of anarchists.”
Protestors also shouted accusations at Education Minister Yoav Kisch, who appeared at the conference soon after Smotrich. One protestor accused Kisch of supporting a continued exemption from IDF service for haredi men.
Kisch refuted the claim, saying that while his experience has taught him that the haredim cannot be drafted by force, he was committed to a solution that will lead to real change and an end to inequality.
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