Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the shoving of Rabbi Leo Dee, who lost his wife and teenage daughters in a terrorist shooting attack in April, while he was praying at Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square this morning (Thursday).
"A protestor shoves Rabbi Leo Dee who lost his wife and his daughters in a murderous terrorist attack, just because he is wrapped in a prayer shawl and holding the Four Species in the heart of Tel Aviv. There is no limit to the hatred and insanity. Be ashamed of yourselves!" Netanyahu said.
Rabbi Dee participated in a prayer service on Wednesday morning in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv.
During the service, anti-religious protesters attempted to disrupt the prayers. One of the protesters intentionally pushed Rabbi Dee as he prayed and carried the four species.
Rabbi Dee spoke to Israel National News-Arutz Shevalater about the incident.
"It was great, the tefillah (Prayer). We prayed with kavod (respect), with simcha (joy), we had about fifty people praying, and it was a lot of fun," he recounts. "We even had separate seating and mechitzot (partitions), and apparently, that's not a problem in Tel Aviv because we managed to pray with these as well," he said.
Rabbi Dee added: "There was a handful, literally five, maximum ten, people who came to disturb us, but we sang with them 'Am Yisrael Hai,' we danced with them a bit, and it didn't really disturb us that much."
"I am a community rabbi from England, and we have much worse disturbances, people talking through the davening and Torah reading, so it doesn't disturb me, whatever," he quipped.
He said that the protestors "make a loud noise, but it's insignificant, and they should be ignored. Hopefully, the mayor of Tel Aviv will see this success, and he can cancel his laws determining what the state religion is and what is allowed, and that everyone should be allowed to pray in whatever way they want, not just what the Mayor of Tel Aviv decides, and that the Supreme Court should also see that their support of him was wrong, and they should also cancel their support of this rule, and that freedom of religion is the ability for everyone to pray and worship in whatever way they want, as long as they don't harm others. We didn't harm anyone; we prayed, and it was a great tefillah."