Security for Officials Increased As Opposition Forces Get Physical

Security for government ministers has been stepped up amid growing political opposition in Israel to the peace process with the Palestinians.

In recent weeks, Rabin and other Cabinet ministers have been the targets of public outbursts in which they were heckled or physically attacked.

Rabin said that while he was concerned about the growing political violence, he was not worried about his own personal safety.

“This doesn’t seem to be a personal problem, but rather a severe public problem,” Rabin told Army Radio.

Protests against the government’s peace policies with the Palestine Liberation Organization have become increasingly vocal – and physical.

In one of the most violent outbursts this week, a right-wing supporter charged at Rabin during an annual gathering of Israel’s English-speaking community, held Tuesday at the Wingate sports center in Netanya.

Bodyguards pushed the protester away from Rabin.

“Rabin is endangering the lives of Jews, creating a terrorist state and taking severe measures, so he shouldn’t be surprised if harsh measures are also taken against him,” Itamar Ben Gabir, an activist in the militantly anti-Arab Kach movement told Israel Television.

Ben Gabir was shown holding the hood ornament from Rabin’s Cadillac. It was stripped from the car during anti-government demonstrations last week.

Ben Gabir told the reporter that if activists could get close enough to Rabin’s car to take to ornament, they could also get close to Rabin.

In another incident, Religious Affairs Minister Shimon Shetreet was accosted during a religious ceremony at the Western Wall this week, during which people in the crowd called him a “traitor.”

The opposition has come not only come from disaffected Israeli citizens, but also from officials of the opposition.

During the annual Jerusalem parade this week, Likud Knesset member Tzachi Hanegbi drowned out Rabin’s remarks by broadcasting his own anti-government comments on loudspeakers he had secretly set up near the reviewing stand.

The prime minister has lashed out at the opposition, calling such acts incitement and proof that it does not have a legitimate argument to stand on.

The latest incidents have sparked a hail of accusations between Labor and Likud parliamentarians.

Labor Knesset member Rafi Alloul called on Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair to strip Hanegbi of his parliamentary immunity, in order for charges to be brought against him for the incident at the Jerusalem parade.

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected claims that he has been the driving force behind the acts of incitement.

At an opposition rally in Efrat on Wednesday, Netanyahu said, “We cannot condone physical attacks against Cabinet ministers or representatives of the government.

“We have to express ourselves in the ballot box, not through violence,” he said.

Meanwhile, another anti-government demonstration took place in downtown Jerusalem on Thursday.

Protesters from the grassroots group Zo Artzeinu, or This is our Land, blocked traffic by leading a bunch of sheep on leashes onto a main thoroughfare.

The demonstrators said they wanted to illustrate the point that they did not plan to let the Rabin government’s policies lead them like “sheep to the slaughter.”

Police removed the sheep – and demonstrators – from the road.