Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly criticized the Opposition and the media Saturday evening for "distorting" his words and misconstruing his remarks at a recent government meeting as inciting violence against protesters.
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In a series of posts on Twitter, the prime minister clarified that he did not instruct his minister to "punch protesters," but rather "punch back at their lies."
The Likud published a transcript of the meeting, in which Netanyahu told the lawmakers, "I want you to … simply punch back. It's not just hitting out against terrorism, but also against lies."
The quote was provided a day after Channel 12 News published another, seemingly inaccurate, version, which cited Netanyahu as saying to his lawmakers to "use a fist" to strike demonstrators.
The Labor party filed a police complaint against Netanyahu, claiming his words "incited violence." The Likud too filed a police complaint – against former Prime Minister Ehud Barak (also of Labor) – after he called for civil disobedience in response to the judicial reform.
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