Reporter Harassed by Man at Haifa Polling Station
Channel 14 correspondent Gal Tobi described a verbal assault and physical interference during a Tuesday morning broadcast in the Denya neighborhood.
By Noor Phillips ·
Gal Tobi, the northern correspondent for Israel's Channel 14, reported being verbally assaulted and physically harassed on Tuesday morning while covering voting in Haifa's Denya neighborhood. The incident occurred while Tobi was working alone, without a cameraman, at a local polling station.
According to Tobi, a man approached her and stood close enough to touch her equipment. The interference continued even while she was on a live broadcast. The man accused her of filming people in the background. Tobi stated that she was standing in a public space and adjusted her camera angle to ensure only she appeared on screen.
Despite these adjustments, the man continued to interfere with her work. Tobi said the man had arrived with two other people. She reported hearing him tell his companions, "We don't want Channel 14." She also heard remarks directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the confrontation.
"Even though I accommodated him so as not to offend anyone, he stood very close to me and harassed me," Tobi said. Other people present at the polling station attempted to defend her. Tobi described the group as acting like bullies who disrupted her broadcast and touched her gear. "I was verbally attacked and harassed," she added.
The visible distress of the incident caused Tobi to break down in tears. She noted that she and her colleagues at Channel 14 had experienced similar situations while performing routine reporting duties. During a subsequent broadcast, Tobi stated that she would continue her work. "We'll get through this and continue bringing you the voices from the field. We won't pay attention to people like that. Not everyone here is like that," she said.
Ofer Winter, the chairman of the People of Israel party, condemned the reported harassment. He called the incident an attack by one brother against another. Winter urged law enforcement to act, noting that the case is part of a series of similar incidents involving journalists. "There is no place for this violence in Israeli society, and any attack on media outlets doing their jobs must be condemned clearly and unequivocally," Winter said.
