76-year-old politician brutally attacked whilst removing protest banner

A 76-year-old activist from the Yisrael Beiteinu party has been hospitalised with serious head injuries after being attacked whilst attempting to remove a protest banner. Ilan Manes was assaulted at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, where he subsequently required emergency medical treatment for bleeding on the brain. The incident has prompted his party leader Gideon Sa’ar to visit him in hospital and issue a strongly worded statement.

The banner Manes was attempting to remove called for the release of Yigal Amir, the man imprisoned for assassinating Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. The attack appears to have occurred during an altercation between Manes and others at the hospital location.

Yisrael Beiteinu has called for law enforcement authorities to pursue the attackers with the full force of the law. The party’s statement characterised the assault as particularly brutal, highlighting the seriousness of Manes’s injuries and expressing concern about rising political tensions in Israel.

The incident reflects ongoing divisions within Israeli society regarding historical and political figures, with competing memorial efforts and protests continuing to surface in public spaces. Authorities are understood to be investigating the circumstances of the attack.

Source: Maariv — Original article in Hebrew.