צעירי ישראל ביתנו מפגינים
צעירי ישראל ביתנו מפגיניםצילום: דוברות ישראל ביתנו

Yisrael Beytenu members and supporters have taken their fight to publish French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Israel to the streets Sunday, after Israeli book chain Steimatzky dropped plans for an in-store promotion of the Charlie Hebdo edition depicting the founder of Islam Mohammed in what Muslims consider an offensive manner.

"We're here to say clearly that we will not give in to terror and terror threats," veteran journalist and Yisrael Beytenu candidate Sharon Gal stated to Arutz Sheva during a protest over the issue. "We will not give in to veiled threats by the Arab MKs from the Communist-jihadist-Islamist party, who said that if the paper is sold in Israel, they're not responsible for what would happen."

"That's a threat, not just a hint," he continued. "It doesn't surprise me, some of these people are outspoken terror supporters, some praised the terrorists on stages in Ramallah and some joined the Marmara against our soldiers. And that's why we're here – to say enough is enough."

"We, at the Yisrael Beteinu youth, decided to get the papers from the web and distribute them in Israel," he added. "This is the issue from after the attack. We do not support insulting religions, we respect all religions. This issue was published as a response to the terror attack."

Earlier Sunday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called on party activists Sunday to buy “thousands” of copies of the controversial edition, saying, "we will not allow Israel to be turned in to an ISIS-style fundamentalist state." 

Liberman was referring to a letter sent to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by Masud Ghnaim, the head of the United Arab List, who called the proposed sale by Steimatzky “dangerous and stupid.”

The feelings of Muslims would be badly hurt, he said, and “no one can predict what will happen” as a result.