Far-right party's rally ends with firebomb attack
Yahad – a far rightwing party that failed to cross election threshold – holds rally in Jerusalem, with supporters claiming election was rigged.
A firebomb was thrown at a group of far right political activist Tuesday night who had convened in Jerusalem to express their support for the radical right wing Yahad party that failed to cross the election threshold.
A few dozen Yahad supporters rallied around the party chairman, Eli Yishay, in Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood to express their anger at the party's failure to make into the Knesset in last Tuesday's elections. No injuries were reported as a result of the firebomb and the police are currently investigating the incident.
Yahad was formed by Yishai – a former leader of the ultra-Orthadox Shas party – and Baruch Marzel, a radical right wing activist known for his provocations and harsh anti-Arab positions.
The activists held signs denouncing Shas and claiming the election was rigged. The party missed the 3.25 percent election threshold by roughly 11,000 votes, leading many to blame Shas and other right wing parties for stealing much needed votes.
"No one can stop this revolution," Yishai said to his supporters.
"We knew this would happen, we knew they would use tricks to disqualify our votes. We followed the truth, but we never caused harm, or used violence, but the truth must be said: these elections were rigged, democracy has been erased," he said defiantly.
"Because of Deri's ego over 140,000 votes went to the trash," one of the protest signs read, while others called for a probe in alleged election fraud, which they say is the reason for the party's failure.
After the rally began to disperse, a firebomb was thrown at the area, were few people were still present, causing a small fire, but failing to cause injuries.
Some claim the firebomb was thrown by Shas supporters, but the claims were not confirmed as the police are still searching for suspects.
Kobi Nachshoni contributed to this report
