Yinon Magal accuses media of double standard after suspect in gun incident gets house arrest

On Channel 14’s "The Patriots," broadcaster Yinon Magal reacted angrily to the release to house arrest of a suspect who reportedly pulled a gun at ultra-Orthodox protesters. He said the media was treating the case lightly and ignoring it, and argued that violent incidents are judged differently depending on who is involved.

Magal said that if a similar episode had happened at Kaplan protests, “the whole country would be shaken.” He added that television channels would have made “a whole celebration” out of the incident. In his view, reporters would have immediately checked whether the suspect received the weapon from Itamar Ben Gvir and whether it was connected to Ben Gvir’s gun reform.

He said the reaction would have been overwhelming and political, insisting that there would be demands to cancel the reform. Magal also said that in such a scenario, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would probably be blamed too, and he mocked that by saying, “He is like God.”

The comments came in response to the suspect’s release to house arrest and were presented by Magal as evidence of a media double standard in coverage of violence and public protests.