Israel Police have opened an investigation into an attack perpetrated on a kashrut supervisor in the town of Segev Shalom in the Negev. On Sunday, Eliraz Barvai was attacked by a Bedouin worker at the “Of Oz” chicken processing plant. The attacker, a resident of a Bedouin settlement in the Negev, fled the scene.
Barvai related that the Bedouin became angry with him at his refusal to withdraw a previous complaint he had lodged against him, following an attack committed during Operation Guardian of the Walls. This time, the Bedouin tried to throttle him, and also struck him with an iron rod.
Responding to the incident, MK Yitzhak Pindrus (United Torah Judaism) said: “MK Yulia Malinovsky promised last week to ‘take on’ the Chief Rabbinate, and now we see that at least one person was paying attention and decided to put her words into action. It’s clear to anyone with eyes in his head that the incitement being promoted by the Minister of Religious Affairs, Matan Kahana, and his granting of legitimacy to Reform elements, have led to violent thuggery such as has now been displayed with this latest attack on a kashrut supervisor.
“It’s not too late to stop the incitement train,” Pindrus added. “The government now has to pull itself together and realize where its actions are leading to.”
Also responding to the news of the attack was MK Itamar Ben Gvir of the Religious Zionism party. “The writing was on the wall,” he said. “The police should have arrested this terrorist after his first attack and held him until the conclusion of proceedings against him – and let’s hope that this time they will arrest him and won’t wait for him to try another murderous attack.
“I also hope that the Chief Rabbinate will immediately remove its kashrut stamp from the processing plant where the attack occurred, and give its support to the supervisor.”