Otzma Yehudit director-general questioned over alleged assault on police officers in Mitzpe Yeriho

The party’s director-general is suspected of extortion by threats, assaulting a police officer, and obstruction of justice over a clash at a memorial in Mitzpe Yeriho.

Otzma Yehudit director-general Itiel Ne'eman was questioned by police on Sunday on suspicion of extortion by threats, assaulting and obstructing a police officer, and obstruction of justice, over a violent clash with officers in the West Bank settlement of Mitzpe Yeriho, Israeli media reported. 

The investigation concerns the same incident for which Otzma Yehudit faction chairman MK Yitzhak Kreuzer was questioned under caution about a month ago, in which a crowd allegedly confronted police officers and blocked a patrol car, helping a suspect escape.

“A suspect involved in the assault of a police officer in Mitzpe Yeriho is currently being questioned at the Lahav 433 national investigations unit,” police said in a statement.

Officers were injured in the incident, which was captured on a police officer’s body camera. The footage is among the evidence against the suspects, according to the reports.

Otzma Yehudit: ‘Political persecution’ by the attorney-general

Otzma Yehudit said in response that “the attorney-general’s political persecution of the Otzma Yehudit party crosses every redline today, with the summoning of the party’s director-general, Itiel Ne'eman, for questioning.”

The party said Kreuzer had been prevented from filing a complaint with the Police Internal Investigations Department (PIID) for more than a week after he left a memorial for a childhood friend killed in battle “with a broken rib,” and that “the law enforcement system is now targeting the party’s management, in a transparent attempt to harm Otzma Yehudit in any way possible.”

“The selective enforcement cries out to the heavens,” the party added. “While cases against left-wingers and opposition MKs such as Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi drag on and fizzle out, when it comes to Otzma Yehudit members, the system acts with record efficiency and churns out investigations at a dizzying pace.”

Crowd blocked police car at Mitzpe Yeriho memorial, reports say

The incident began when police officers pursued a suspect in an earlier attack through Mitzpe Yeriho, and the suspect fled to an area where local settlers were holding a memorial, Ynet reported.

According to a Haaretz report, the crowd, including Kreuzer and Ne'eman, blocked the officers’ patrol car, with Kreuzer allegedly leading the crowd and demanding that the police abandon the chase and hand over cellphones seized from the suspect’s vehicle.

Onlookers reportedly shouted that the officers were Nazis, and the confrontation turned physical. One officer had his nose broken, another broke his hand, and the patrol car was damaged with a knife.

National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the scene during the altercation. According to Ynet and Haaretz, citing a police officer, Ben-Gvir sided with the crowd and accused the police of using excessive force. Ben-Gvir denies this, saying he came to attend the memorial and stayed on the sidelines.