The police are updating this evening (Tuesday) on the development of the investigation into the incident from this morning, in which a vehicle drove onto the sidewalk near the protesters in Be’er Sheva. According to a statement from the southern district of the police, there is no suspicion of a run-over attempt.
Let’s recall that dozens of students affiliated with the Yesh Atid party went out this morning to protest against the right-wing government. During the demonstration, the driver of a private car stepped on the sidewalk where the demonstrators were standing, then he was arrested and taken for questioning.
The opposition was quick to present the incident as an attempted attack. The chairman of Yesh Atid and the chairman of the opposition, Yair Lapid, said that “the incitement of the government will end in blood. Today it reached the student demonstration led by the Yesh Atid chapter at Ben Gurion University. A dangerous trampling attempt by a person who is motivated by the intoxication of power and the madness pumped up by Ben Gabir and Riv Levin. Miraculously, no one was hurt. You won’t be able to run over us, you won’t be able to run over the country we love.”
In an interview with Dani Zaken and Yaakov Bardogo, Knesset member Efrat Raiten from the Labor Party called the incident a “tram attack against demonstrators.”
The chairman of the state camp, Benny Gantz, responded to the incident and said: “Netanyahu, the State of Israel needs broad agreements and not the continuation of incitement, incitement and protests. Your actions directed against the protection of individual rights and against the basic democratic principles permeate the actions on the ground. I call on you to condemn the attack on the demonstrators and the harsh statements and act to unite the divisions in the nation and not to consolidate them.”
Despite the claims that it was incitement on the part of the members of the new government that led to a deliberate attempt to run over, the police say this evening that “the suspect was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, reckless driving, assault and threats, at this stage we emphasize that there is no suspicion of an attempt to run over. The investigation has not yet ended and as far as the suspect requests, he will be brought to a hearing to extend his detention Tomorrow morning”.
Prime Minister Netanyahu criticized this week the displays that appeared at the left-wing protest on Saturday night that included signs and symbols comparing government ministers to Nazis. Netanyahu called for calm and said that “we are not frightened by the one-sided media campaign against us, and we do not flinch in the face of the rampant incitement against us. We strongly defend The disgrace of the silence of the opposition and the law enforcement system. We have more than two million citizens and 64 mandates behind us, whose mission we act on.”