A racist who attacked MK Haneen Zoabi at an election panel at the College for Law and Business in Ramat Gan on Tuesday, March 3 has been indicted. Artemi Kazarov, 27, a long time supporter of Baruch Marzel, the leader of the fascist Kahanist movement in Israel, poured a bottle of juice on Zoabi during the event. According to the indictment, Kazarov, along with other Marzel supporters, rushed the stage shouting curses and preventing Zoabi from speaking. Kazarov then climbed onto the table and poured juice onto Zoabi. The prosecution also indicted another racist, Ofer Golan, who assaulted Joint List spokeswoman Emilie Moatti.
Extreme-right Baruch Marzel also attended the event and later claimed responsibility for the Kazarov’s actions writing on his Facebook page “We promised, and we delivered.” Prior to the event, Marzel posted on his Facebook page “Zoabi, I’m coming for you,” urging supporters to meet him outside following the event. In July 2014, Facebook removed Marzel’s page following multiple complaints citing instances of racial incitement.
Kazarov and other extremists, who had been called by Marzel to come to the event “to protest the disgrace,” disrupted the convention. According to the indictment, they crowded round the stage and shouted curses and insults at Zoabi, preventing her from speaking. Moatti, who told Israel Radio on Wednesday that one of Marzel’s supporters beat her on the head with a flag pole, was taken to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Baruch Marzel’s Facebook post before it was deleted: “We made good on our promise – we wiped the smile off Zoabi’s face.”
The attack on Zoabi was condemned by Ayman Odeh, chairman of the Joint List, who said that “the current election campaign continues the wave of racism, exclusion, and violence that characterized the latest government’s tenure. It’s sad to see such an even in academic institutions; it is no longer possible to have an open dialogue and present an array of opinions. The violence against MK Hanin Zoabi and her team derives from serious and dangerous statements by public representatives who, rather than behaving responsibly, incite hatred and anger in an attempt to gain votes at the ballot box. The Joint List will continue to act against violence and to encourage a far and democratic debate.”
The Joint List welcomed Kazarov’s arrest, but said it was “too little and too lenient, in view of the rightist thugs’ attacks. Like Kazarov, hundreds of violent rioters are roaming the streets. They are known to the police, but the latter refrain time and again from acting firmly to stop them, while treating non-violent Arab civilians with disproportionate violence. It’s up to the police to prove that their duty is to protect all people from violence and thuggery.”
