A reported right-wing activist squirted pepper spray at anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, during an altercation with those attending a rally.
Police said they detained two men, one from Ramat Gan, 45, and one from Kiryat Tivon, 75, on suspicion of assaulting each other.
The clash happened before speeches started at the weekly rally held in Tel Aviv’s Habimah Square.
In a video posted to social media, a man with a megaphone around his neck, reportedly a government supporter, is seen strolling through the protesters. As two elderly men accost him, apparently demanding that he leave, a tussle breaks out with the pair both tugging at the man. He then pulls out a pepper spray and uses it against one of the elderly men.
There were no injuries reported.
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Both people involved were taken in for questioning, police said.
Two weeks ago, police intervened after a man twice tried to storm the stage and disrupt a Habima Square protest.
תיעוד: פעיל ימין ריסס גז פלפל על מפגין בת”א, המשטרה עיכבה את שניהםhttps://t.co/brTKVHJWGH | @ItaiGalon pic.twitter.com/4fUTQoRmy4
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) January 10, 2026
At the Saturday night protest, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, who has become a fierce critic of the Netanyahu government, said that “Israel is no longer a liberal democracy.”
Attacking far-right parties in the coalition, he accused what he called “this wicked government that is being led by a messianic minority to become a non-democratic theocracy” of perpetuating the war in Gaza in order to remain in power.
Though an October ceasefire halted the Gaza war, which was triggered in October 2023 by the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, the truce has left half of the Gaza Strip under Israeli control and half in the hands of Hamas. Progress toward a second stage of the US-brokered ceasefire, which deals with postwar Gaza as well as broader efforts for regional peace, has become bogged down, largely by Hamas’s refusal to disarm.
After the rally ended, some protesters marched to the headquarters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on King George Street, where the slogan “You are the head, you are guilty” was projected onto the side of the building.
A large, white wall of the Metzudat Zeev building that has relatively few windows has been a frequent target of protesters projecting anti-government slogans.
The slogan has featured in a series of billboards and TV ads demanding that Netanyahu resign, orchestrated by the “Lohamei Kippur” organization, which is made up of veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Screen capture from video of the slogan ‘You are the head – you are guilty’ projected onto the side of the Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv, June 2024. (X)
Earlier Saturday, seven people were arrested during a weekly protest outside the home of Education Minister Yoav Kisch in Hod Hasharon. They were later brought for a remand hearing.
The protesters, dressed in Qatari garments and waving cash, were protesting against the government over the Qatargate scandal, which centers on allegations that close advisers in the Prime Minister’s office were paid to further Doha’s interests.
Police were called after complaints of noise and violations of public order, the Walla outlet reported.
שוטרים מעכבים מפגינים מול ביתו של קיש
צילום: בני משי pic.twitter.com/3xXlw515Pw
— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) January 10, 2026
After protesters ignored calls to leave, seven activists were arrested.
They were taken to the Kfar Saba police station, where they refused to sign papers for a release with restrictions, the Ynet outlet reported. Opposition Labor Party MK Naama Lazimi arrived and brought the protesters warm clothing, though they refused to accept them, according to the report.
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