
TV personality Erez Tal condemned the disturbance at a Yom Kippur prayer service held in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv.
In a post on Facebook, Tal wrote, "Please take a deep breath and only then read: You cannot proclaim that Tel Aviv is a free city and in the same breath prevent those who want to pray separately in the square from doing so."
"No one is forcing you to join. Is it bothering you? Open a competing prayer service without gender separation. It's that simple. What's the fear? Are the cunning messianics trying to bewitch us?
"I believe that we have a slightly thicker backbone than the honorable Supreme Court thinks. Let's get down from this tree because [Itamar] Ben-Gvir is already starting to celebrate with pleasure how we fell into this trap. There are enough much more justified directions to direct our anger."
National Unity MK Matan Kahane blamed the government in an interview with Reshet Bet.
"When a government comes and undermines in such a strong way the democratic basis of the people, what did they think - that it would not slide over to the Jewish basis? It only happens because this government is behaving the way it is behaving, and it must be stopped," he said.
"The Prime Minister's reaction, in my opinion, was a bad reaction. When we have a government that really works with such determination to divide us and separate us, then in the end it succeeds. This government succeeds in one thing, dividing and separating us, between brothers."
Prime Minister Netanyahu pointed an accusing finger at the far-left protesters who prevented the prayers from being held, saying, "To my astonishment, precisely in the Jewish state, on the holiest day for the Jewish people, left-wing protesters rioted against Jews during their prayers. It seems that there are no boundaries, no norms, and no reservation for hatred on the part of the extremists on the left."