Israeli Police Review Journalist Hagi Huberman’s Incendiary Remarks

Israeli police are examining harsh and allegedly inciting remarks made by editor and journalist Hagi Huberman, who is identified with Naftali Bennett. The review began on Sunday after Huberman wrote in a private WhatsApp group that he believed in the phrase, “Run over every religious Jew, destroy every ultra-Orthodox Jew,” prompting widespread public outrage.

In response to a question from C14, Huberman said he meant, “Run over every religious Jew who blocks roads in a protest against military enlistment.” When asked whether that was a reasonable statement, he said that in his view the public response to road blockages “because of opposition to enlistment in the army” should include physical violence, including breaking bones, “preferably with batons.”

Police said that if the comments are found to constitute incitement, Huberman could be summoned for questioning, subject to approval from the attorney general. Social media users reacted strongly, calling on police, the Shin Bet, and the State Attorney’s Office to investigate him for racist incitement to murder. Some described the remarks as antisemitic and as a call for pogroms.

This is not the first time Huberman has been linked to threatening language. In June 2022, during the Bennett-Lapid government, he sent then-minister Idit Silman a message saying that if she voted against the settlement regulations law in Judea and Samaria, he would have “a great headline” linking her to Ayman Odeh against settlers. Silman later described that message as extortion and threats.