A tussle broke out at Gideon Sa'ar's party meeting Monday night when a right-wing activist appeared at the event and interrupted Sa'ar's speech.

After Sa'ar credited his movement with "strengthening settlement in the Negev, Galilee, Golan Heights, Judea and Samaria, and everywhere else in Israel", "with a clear goal of doubling the local population within a few years time," activist Eli Nissani attacked Sa'ar, asking how he planned to get anything done "with the Islamic Movement in the government."

Security guards were quick to escort the protester out of the hall. "I was punched in the abdomen area and head," Nissani later told Israel National News.

Sa'ar also responded to the outburst, saying the fracas was a "provocation by the opposition, trying to harm [Israeli] unity."

Nissani said he'd spent years supporting the founders of the New Hope party - Sa'ar and Ze'ev Elkin. "You can ask them yourself," he offered but pointed out that, "Sitting in a coalition with Ra'am (United Arab Party) was crossing the line and morally repugnant."

Israel National News' Hezki Baruch was also caught up in the fray when he attempted to interview the protester. Guards and Sa'ar supporters didn't stop at Nissani and began shoving him out of the hall as well.

After receiving criticism from other media sources, Sa'ar called Baruch and offered an apology for the incident, promising to learn from the experience and prevent future events of this nature.