MK Miri Regev
MK Miri RegevIsrael news photo: Likud

MK Miri Regev (Likud) filed a complaint with the police on Sunday against the protesters who attacked her on Friday during her visit to a young couple's protest tent against high housing prices in Tel Aviv.

The young protesters, who set up a protest tent at Habima Square in central Tel Aviv, reportedly used derogatory language against Regev, cursed her, made obscene gestures, and threw water at her.

Regev told Army Radio on Sunday that “radical leftists” had hijacked the protest in an attempt to transform an issue-oriented protest into a political struggle.

Regev has also filed a complaint in the Knesset’s Ethics Committee against MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz), whom she claimed witnessed how the protesters attacked her but chose to ignore the goings-on and not intervene.

She noted during the radio interview that unlike her, Horowitz and other MKs from the left of the political spectrum such as MK Dov Henin of Hadash, were welcomed at the rally with open arms.

One of the protesters told the Ma’ariv daily newspaper in response to Regev’s complaint, “The camp here is divided into two, those who want a peaceful, people-friendly protest and are the ones that calmed things down after Miri Regev arrived, and those who want to go out to the main roads and burn tires.”

MK Nitzan Horowitz told Ma’ariv in response that Regev’s complaint is “ridiculous, pathetic and not worthy of a response.”

Meanwhile on Sunday, opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni (Kadima) directly blamed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the high housing prices. She said that the housing shortage is a problem throughout Israel and not just in Tel Aviv.

“The state did not encourage entrepreneurs to come to the periphery, for example, through encouraging innovation,” said Livni. “Today, there is not enough encouragement for rental apartments. Reforms in the Israel Land Administration will not change policy. Israel Lands Administration is not a money machine; it is supposed to serve policy. That policy needs to change here and now, by determining priorities.”

She did not mention the effects of the ten-month building freeze in Judea and Samaria, many of whose communities are a few minutes' drive from central Israel, on housing prices and supply and demand. This occurred in Netanyahu's term, when he gave in to United States' pressure.

Several kibbutzim (cooperative communities) have offered themselves as a solution to high housing prices. The kibbutzim explained that the living cost in a kibbutz is much lower than in the city and cited the benefits of living on a kibbutz, such as a “green” and clean environment, quality education, and a close-knit community whose members take care of each other.

Also on Sunday, the Our Land of Israel movement demanded that Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan immediately arrest the left-wing activist who attacked Regev.

A statement released by the movement said that the rule of law is at risk if the attacker continues to walk free.

“It turns out that the media and the law enforcement system in Israel have double standards when it comes to the right and the left and unlike in cases where members of Knesset and public servants from the left side are attacked, this time the media did not start a festival of condemnation over the violent attack of the MK,” said the statement.

“The State Attorney's Office has not cried to protect the rule of law, the police have not summoned anyone for questioning, and more than 24 hours after the incident the attackers are still at large,” continued the statement.