In a conversation with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News, Chana Koren, assistant to MK Tzvi Sukkot of Otzma Yehudit, recounts the frightening moments in which she was attacked by left-wing activists at a tent that Sukkot set up to generate dialogue and discourse on the proposed judicial reform.
"We have established a project of twenty dialogue centers across the country. These are meetings of people from the Right and Left. We have been holding these meetings for a week or two. As part of this dialogue, we also established Sukkot's headquarters near the stage (where people assemble). This is a move that won great sympathy. There were very good, productive talks," says Koren.
However, Koren relates that while on the way to the meeting place, Sukkot and his aides began receiving messages that an attempt to thwart the event was being planned. "We didn't expect it to reach the levels it did," she says.
When Sukkot and his team arrived, "we saw dozens of protesters waiting for us. They were headed for us with loudspeakers and whistles before we were done putting down the table and chairs. We heard incessant curses, preventing anyone who wanted to hold dialogue with us from doing so."
"Tzvi was at the center of the commotion. I moved back a little to talk to people who happened upon the scene and didn't understand what was going on. I explained to them what it was about and they said that they were indeed from the leftist camp, but against this attack and violence. I was in a storm of emotions, but I still managed to talk with normative people."
Koren says that the violence did not end with shouting and screaming. "It was shocking. They took our equipment, vandalized it, and threw it on the floor. I wanted to sit on a chair and someone took it from under me and threw it away. They violently folded our tables and threw everything on them. At some point Tzvi went a little to the side after two hours of screaming. The crowd chased him, and then someone walked over my leg. I asked him what he was doing and he promised to do it again before running over and pushing me. I was shocked by the situation. I completely froze," she says.
"I wanted to go over to the side, but women and men surrounded me shouted 'Judo-Nazi'. I was hysterical and even started crying. I kept repeating to myself: 'I am Jewish' because what does one do to a Nazi who is the greatest enemy of the Jewish people? When you call someone that, it means you're allowed to curse them, spit at them, throw things at them, and push them down. They delegitimized me for the sole reason that I was wearing modest obviously Jewish attire - a skirt and head covering, and was associated with Zvi Sukkot.
"When my mother heard that in the interview I had with Ha'aretz political correspondent Chaim Levinson, in which he called me his 'enemy,' she called me to say that this was not the reason she came here from France and that it reminded her of antisemitic protests there, when they were screamed at for being Jewish."
"Suddenly I am considered an enemy in my own country," she said. "I felt in those moments that there was no one to protect me - that I didn't know where the violence would lead to."
On a positive note, Koren says she received dozens of messages of support, urging her to continue organizing respectful dialogue. "I have many left-wing friends who sent me messages saying they wanted to be part of this campaign which will, of course, continue. We cannot allow this violent group of people to dictate our actions for us."