A man wearing a Meretz T-shirt defiled phylacteries at a Chabad booth, near a polling station in Netanya on Tuesday. Following the incident, the man was taken in for questioning by police. A spokesperson for Meretz said the man was impersonating a party supporter.
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Cell phone footage showed the man holding the tefillin and rubbing them against his crotch. People could be heard demanding that the man put down the tefillin. A police spokesman said he was arrested on suspicion of offending religious sensitivities and that "following questioning the findings would be passed on to the prosecution."
Following publication of the footage, a Meretz spokesman said it had asked the Central Elections Committee to investigate the incident. "The man is not a known member of Meretz and is likely an impostor aiming to harm the party. A complaint will be filed to police," a party spokesperson said.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I strongly condemn the shocking desecration of a holy religious artifact by a left-wing activist."
United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf said: I am deeply shocked by the defilement of holy tefillin by a Meretz activist at a Chabad booth in Netanya. The incident is the direct result of the incitement of the left-wing bloc led by Yvette [Avigdor] Liberman against the ultra-Orthodox public. We have the power to change the situation for the better by responding to the inciters at the ballot box."
Religious Zionist leader Bezalel Smotrich said: "I am shocked to the depths of my soul, and have tears running down my face," "I am crying over the persecution and hatred of Judaism that this hateful government brought with it. Enough. We must bring sanity back to Israel. The hatred of an evil few will ruin the State of Israel."
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