Yotam Zimri Accuses Police of Discriminating Against Haredi Protesters

Yotam Zimri, a panelist on Channel 14’s “The Patriots,” accused police of using excessive violence against Haredi protesters and described it as “police apartheid.” He said officers are targeting them because of how they look and because they are treated as a “lower caste.”

Zimri said the police are “beating people up” and argued the force is acting far more harshly toward Haredi demonstrators than toward other protest groups. He criticized what he sees as selective enforcement, comparing the treatment of Haredi rallies with the Kaplan protests.

According to Zimri, people at Kaplan protests did “the same things,” yet if anyone raised a hand, a grenade, or anything similar against them, that person would end up in the police internal affairs unit, Makhash. He said this to illustrate what he portrayed as a double standard in law enforcement.

At the same time, Zimri stressed that he opposes blocking roads himself, saying, “I am also against blocking roads, I also hate it.” But he insisted that, in his view, discrimination against Haredim is worse than the protests’ road closures.