Israeli police arrested two suspects on Friday after activists from the left-leaning Democrats party were attacked while running a campaign stand at Hatikvah Market in south Tel Aviv. The activists included Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Chen Arieli, who is running in the party’s July 20 primary.
Video from the market showed at least two men cursing at the activists, overturning and kicking their equipment, and one of them hitting an activist, the Friday video of the market attack. In a statement, police said officers were called to the scene on a report of “physical and verbal violence,” and two suspects were taken in for questioning.
Two Arrested After Hatikvah Market Attack
Police arrested the pair late Friday afternoon, hours after the confrontation. The market sits inside the Hatikvah neighborhood, a fact the attack made impossible to ignore for a left-leaning party trying to canvass there in the weeks before a primary.
Footage posted to X shows a man cursing at the activists, kicking over their equipment, and striking one of them. Additional men joined in. The Democrats had set up a small campaign stand at the market, the kind of public, weekend operation parties run before a primary to draw in undecided voters.
In its statement, Israel Police said officers were dispatched on a report of “physical and verbal violence.” The force detained two suspects “who allegedly took part in the attack,” it said. Both were taken in for questioning.
- Democrats activists set up a campaign stand at Hatikvah Market on Friday afternoon.
- At least two men confronted the group, cursed, and yelled at them to leave.
- The men overturned and kicked the stand’s equipment; footage shows one striking an activist.
- Police were called and arrested two suspects; both were taken in for questioning.
Arieli: A Deputy Mayor Mid-Campaign
Chen Arieli was first elected Tel Aviv’s deputy mayor in April 2019, in charge of the city’s welfare and public health portfolio. She is the first openly lesbian woman to hold the role. Before politics, she spent two decades in Israeli civil society, including two terms as chair of The Aguda, the country’s LGBT task force. According to the Times of Israel, she now chairs the Israeli Gay Youth movement and is running in the Democrats’ July 20 primary.
Arieli was at the stand Friday with a group the party is calling its young Democrats activists. The Saturday-after-Friday timing of the primary vote makes the canvassing period unusually compressed, and Arieli was working the kind of working-class market where her deputy-mayor portfolio puts her in regular contact with residents.
The Democrats’ Stakes In The Primary
The Democrats party holds four seats in the 25th Knesset and is led by former deputy IDF chief of staff Yair Golan. Its internal primary is set for July 20, about three weeks ahead of national elections scheduled by Israeli law for October 27, 2026.
Friday’s attack lands inside the canvassing period that runs into the primary’s final stretch. For a small opposition party, getting candidates into working-class marketplaces is a way to make the list feel rooted in neighborhoods the party does not usually win.
The Democrats names its Knesset candidates by closed-list proportional representation in a nationwide constituency. A higher profile at this stage of the primary can move a candidate up the list ranking, and the order in which a small party contests the next election can decide which of its members sit in parliament.
- Party: The Democrats
- Leader: Yair Golan
- Current seats: 4 (in the 25th Knesset)
- Primary date: July 20, 2026
- National election: by October 27, 2026
The Neighborhood Most Tel Aviv Forgot
Hatikvah sits on the southern edge of Tel Aviv, in the lower-income band of neighborhoods that pin the city to its older past. Many of its streets date to the 1930s, when the quarter was founded and named for “Hatikva,” Hebrew for “the hope.” The market that takes its name has run there for nearly as long as the city has existed.
The political map of the neighborhood runs the other way from the rest of Tel Aviv. According to the Times of Israel, Hatikvah is one of the few Tel Aviv neighborhoods where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party received the most votes in Israel’s last national election, in late 2022.
Tel Aviv broadly leans left and is the country’s most consistently liberal city. The southern edge neighborhoods are an exception. They sit farther from the central business district, closer to older industrial zones and to Jaffa, and house a higher share of working-class Mizrahi and immigrant-origin voters for whom Likud and its allied parties have polled strongest for years.
It is the kind of place where a left-leaning party running a small campaign stand would normally expect a Friday of conversation, argument, and a few new sign-ups. Arieli told officers at the station she has worked Hatikvah Market as part of her deputy mayor duties and knows its residents by name.
Arieli Names The ‘New Reality’ She Blames On Netanyahu
In a video filmed later at a Tel Aviv police station, Arieli said she and the other activists were filing a complaint “against whoever dared raise a hand against Democrats activists.” She framed the confrontation as the result of leadership she blames for the breakdown of even routine street-level canvassing in Tel Aviv.
“This is the result of the Netanyahu regime that sows hatred and division in the nation, and employs brainwashing to the point that we can’t even meet up to chat on a Friday afternoon,” she wrote on X. “We were hit and spat at, but that won’t quench the hope that we have to fight for.” Arieli accused Netanyahu of having fostered a “new reality” where left-leaning canvassers are violently prevented from showing up at the market.
She said she had been there to “speak openly and honestly, including with people who don’t necessarily agree with us,” a line she returned to more than once. Her call for complaints to be filed suggested the party’s response would be procedural as well as public.
I know Hatikvah Market intimately. I know the residents, these are people I get up for every morning and do my utmost as deputy mayor.
What Comes Next In The Case
The two suspects remained in police custody Friday night for questioning. The Democrats activists filed a formal complaint at the station, and the Israel Police have not yet released charges. The party’s primary is set for July 20, and the national election follows by October 27.
For the candidates, canvassing in marketplaces is the unglamorous work that fills the volunteer rolls and contact lists for a closed-list Knesset race. The Friday footage put that work on a national stage, and on the days between now and the primary the Democrats’ south Tel Aviv operation will face its first test of whether it can run the same kind of stand again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Chen Arieli?
Chen Arieli is the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, holding the welfare and public health portfolio, and the first openly lesbian woman in the role. She chairs the Israeli Gay Youth movement and is running in The Democrats’ July 20 primary.
Where is Hatikvah Market?
Hatikvah Market is an open-air market in the Hatikvah neighborhood on the lower-income southern edge of Tel Aviv. The neighborhood is one of the few in the city where Likud polled highest in Israel’s late-2022 national election.
When is The Democrats’ primary?
The Democrats’ internal primary is set for July 20, 2026, ahead of national elections that must be held by October 27, 2026.
What did police say about the attack?
Israel Police said officers were called to Hatikvah Market on a report of “physical and verbal violence” at the Democrats’ campaign stand, and two suspects were arrested and taken in for questioning.
What did Arieli blame the attack on?
Arieli said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership had produced a “new reality” in which left-leaning canvassers are violently prevented from showing up at the market, accusing the government of sowing hatred and division.
