Baruch Marzel and Benzi Gopstein were interrogated in Lahav 433: 'Severe political persecution''

June 9, 2021   

Right-wing activist Baruch Marzel and Lehava organization chairman Benzi Gopstein were questioned this morning (Wednesday) at the police's Lahav Unit 433, on suspicion of inciting racism on social media. Marzel and Gopstein did not cooperate with the investigation, claiming that it was a clearly political investigation. Gopstein's interrogation revolved, among other things, around a series of videos published in 2018 on behalf of the Lehava organization, warning of the danger of assimilation and its causes. Baruch Marzel's interrogation included, among other things, Torah passages published on his behalf on YouTube, in which he called for striking the enemy as God struck the Ten Plagues in Egypt, as well as things brought up in a request to disqualify him from running for the Knesset that was submitted to the Supreme Court. Contrary to the police statement, the two were released after their interrogation without any restrictive conditions. Benzi Gopstein said after his interrogation: "The offices of 433 are here, in the city of Lod, but the one the police found it appropriate to interrogate was not the inciting sheikh who incited the masses here and called for the murder of Jews, but me for posting videos against assimilation and calling on girls not to date Gentiles. We see here the new spirit of the new Minister of Public Security, that the police here have begun to do his bidding and carry out political persecution." Baruch Marzel said: "It's good to know that the Israel Police has an elite unit. I was promoted today, and was interrogated in the 'cyber' unit. Simply ridiculous. This is a very serious political investigation. I would be happy to go to court and be tried for the ridiculous things that were brought against me in order to expose once and for all, through a real trial, the faces of Mandelblit and the Supreme Court justices. The police said: ''As part of the Israel Police's fight against the crimes of incitement to racism that are being committed online and in accordance with the approval of the State Attorney's Office - today, two suspects were interrogated with a warning at the National Cyber ​​Unit at Lahav 433, against whom complaints were filed regarding the publication of various content and statements on social media, allegedly calling for racism at different times. "At the end of the investigation on suspicion of incitement, the two were released under restrictive conditions.".