“It’s legal but it stinks:” Journalists slam woman’s decision to scream at the lawmaker while on vacation with his family.
By World Israel News Staff
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud) was confronted by a left-wing protester while on vacation in Thailand with his family; the anti-judicial reform activist who verbally attacked him posting a video of the incident on Twitter.
Ohana was on the island of Ko Samui with his husband and their two young children when they were recognized by Rachel Mohoni, who immediately approached the politican and began screaming at him.
In a video taken by an unknown party that Mohoni posted to her own Twitter account, she is seen standing extremely close to Ohana and gesturing wildly in his face.
The lawmaker is heard saying that “this isn’t the time or place” and Mohoni continues to berate him. Eventually, Ohana is seen walking away from her in the opposite direction.
“So I met Amir Ohana …and I had a few things to say to this loser,” Mohoni posted as a caption to the video of her screaming at the lawmaker.
“In response, his partner threatened to beat me up, and then disappeared once I reminded him we were in Thailand,” she charged.
There is no evidence on the video, nor independent corroboration, of Mohoni’s assertion that Ohana’s husband threatened to physically harm her.
Mohoni said that Ohana “didn’t seem to care what I had to say” and claimed that “all he cared about was shirking responsibility and that his children wouldn’t hear the truth.”
Presumably, Mohoni was referring to the fact that she engaged in a heated confrontation with the lawmaker in front of his eight-year-old twin sons and that Ohana had tried to shield the children from the tensions.
Avishai Ben-Haim, a right-wing political commentator and journalist, called Mohoni’s actions “vulgar” and said that it was line with the “uncivilized, oppressive spirit” of the anti-judicial reform demonstrations.
Mohoni’s video was met with mixed responses, even from left-leaning journalists.
“Putting pressure on an elected official via his family members is technically legal, but it stinks,” wrote Akiva Novak, a reporter for Kan News. “They didn’t choose to be public figures, they are paying for their [loved one’s] career choice, and they should be off-limits.”
Mako journalist Gil Mashali noted that the mainstream media was ignoring the story, which he said was hypocritical.
Mashali wrote that had it been Opposition Leader Yair Lapid harassed by a right-winger while on vacation, “there would have been a special breaking news announcement. But Ohana is right-wing, so it’s allowed. Sad.”