Court overturns house arrest for right-wing activist Mordechai David

A court on Thursday accepted the appeal filed by right-wing activist Mordechai David and cancelled the five-day house arrest imposed on him. David had been detained after an incident outside a courthouse, where he was suspected of blocking the path of journalist Lucy Aharish and her husband, actor Tzachi Halevi, as they left the building.

The investigation is still broader than David alone. Police said it includes six additional suspects who were arrested as part of evidence gathering and witness testimony collection.

The episode is the latest in a series of confrontations between David and the couple. In February, David came to the home of Aharish and Halevi together with activist Rami Ben Yehuda, and was briefly held for questioning at a police station. During that incident, a confrontation with Halevi nearly turned physical.

In footage from the scene, David can be heard telling Halevi, “I feel like protesting against your wife, what will you do to me?” Halevi replied, “At my house? At my house?” David continued pressing him, saying, “What will you do to me? Come here, come here. Can someone tell me I can’t protest? Do you want to hit me?” Halevi then called police and demanded that David be taken to the station. The dispute followed a monologue by Aharish that drew major attention online, in which she addressed Israel’s Arab society and its right to vote, using the Arabic expression “Inshallah,” which triggered heavy criticism.