Israeli Journalist Faces Backlash Over Calls for Violence Against Ultra-Orthodox Protesters

A storm has erupted around editor and journalist Hagi Huberman, who is identified with Naftali Bennett, after he was reported to have written in a journalists’ WhatsApp group the phrase, “Run over every haredi, destroy every ultra-Orthodox Jew.” Huberman later clarified that he meant, “Run over every haredi who blocks roads in a protest against military enlistment.”

When asked whether that was a reasonable statement, he went further and said the public response to road blockages “because of opposition to enlistment in the army” should be physical violence, including “breaking their bones,” preferably “with bats.” The article says his words have intensified accusations of incitement.

This is not the first time Huberman has been linked to threatening language. In June 2022, during the Bennett-Lapid government, he sent a message to Minister Idit Silman saying that if she voted against a regulation bill for Judea and Samaria, he would have “a great headline” connecting her to Ayman Odeh against settlers. Silman called the message extortion and threats and said she would not make decisions under intimidation.

The public reaction has been severe. Many social media users called on the police, Shin Bet, and the attorney general’s office to investigate him for racist incitement to murder. Others described the remarks as antisemitism and a call for pogroms, and expressed shock that someone holding an editorial role would speak this way. Some initially suggested it was meant as a joke in a closed WhatsApp group, but the latest comments urging physical violence made the case appear far more serious.