Right-Wing Activist Released to House Arrest After Confrontation With Lucy Aharish

Right-wing activist Mordechai David was arrested on Monday after an incident involving journalist Lucy Aharish, then released after questioning to five days of house arrest. His lawyer, attorney Yaniv Cohen Peretz, said he plans to appeal the decision and argued that the police and prosecution are applying selective enforcement.

In an interview with Boaz Golan, Cohen Peretz said David is not violent and claimed that about ten people from what he called Aharish’s “civil guard” were the ones who pushed and grabbed during the confrontation. He insisted that David “did not do anything violent at any point.”

The lawyer said the house arrest ruling is inconsistent with how authorities handled previous political protests. “I do not remember house arrests when they besieged Sara Netanyahu’s hair salon in Kikar HaMedina, and I do not remember house arrests when they burned tires and blocked the Ayalon again and again,” he said, adding, “It probably depends on who is doing the act and who the victim is.”

Cohen Peretz said he will file an appeal as early as Tuesday. He argued that the law must be equal for everyone, saying, “Either there is equal law for all, or everyone is arrested, or no one is arrested. You cannot create separate rules for right-wing activists.” He also attacked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, calling her a “agent of chaos” and accusing her of allowing disorder under the right-wing government instead of enforcing the law equally.