Police arrest 3 rioters after attack on joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial held at Ra'anana synagogue

Three Israelis suspected of assault were arrested after they participated in a riot targeting a screening of a joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial held in a Reform synagogue on the eve of Israel’s Memorial Day, in the central city of Ra’anana on Tuesday evening.

Israeli media reported that some 200 far-right protesters attacked the gathering, with four police officers and three participants in the event being lightly injured.

The synagogue of the liberal Reform Judaism denomination, also known as Progressive Judaism, hosted a screening of the highly controversial annual alternative memorial, held in the city of Jaffa.

The event is organized by the Parents Circle–Families Forum and Combatants for Peace, two far-left groups advocating coexistence and eschewing violence.

התמונות האלה מפינוי בית הכנסת ברעננה, שם כוחות משטרה מחלצים כ-30 אנשים שבאו לצפות בטקס יום הזיכרון האלטרנטיבי.
בחוץ עשרות צעירים פעילי ימין שנוקטים באלימות נגד מי שהעזו לצפות בטקס. אחת המשתתפות הותקפה באלימות, כולל יריקות ותקיפות פיזיות.
איפה המשטרה הייתה עד עכשיו? pic.twitter.com/n2GaoczuSq

— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) April 29, 2025

It is controversial both in Israeli and Palestinian society to jointly commemorate victims of violence from both sides, meaning that Israeli security forces personnel killed in the fight against terrorism, as well as those they were fighting against, are commemorated by parents and families side-by-side.

The mob of some 200 protesters, called to the synagogue by far-right activist groups via social media, reportedly overwhelmed the small police force stationed there.

An online flyer had called not to let “terror supporters” enter Ra’anana, alleging they were commemorating Hamas terrorists and IDF soldiers “as if they were the same.”

The rioters threw objects at the building, while some managed to enter and assault the around 80 participants of the event, which included family members of soldiers and civilians who fell during the war, as well as elderly people.

The police eventually sent backup forces who escorted the participants out of the venue, while the rioters continued to pelt them with objects, curse, shove, kick, and spit at the participants and damage some of their vehicles.

According to media reports, slogans shouted by the rioters, most of whom appeared to be underage, included, “You are Nazis!”, “Death to terrorists!”, and, “All Arabs are whores!”

השלכת אבנים על חלונות בית כנסת, תקיפת אזרחים, קריאות ״מוות לערבים״ ו-״שישרף לכם הכפר״, זו הדרך של הפלנגות הכהניסטית לציין את ערב יום הזיכרון.

שוטרי מרחב שרון מחלצים אט אט את עשרות המשתתפים בצפייה בטקס הזיכרון המשותף ברעננה, אבל העובדה שלא בוצעו מעצרים והמתפרעים לא נהדפים אחורה… https://t.co/8pQ6eTOFBd

— גלעד קריב (@KarivGilad) April 29, 2025

The Democrats lawmaker Gilad Kariv, himself a Reform Rabbi, escorted some injured participants to the hospital, and later condemned the “attempted pogrom.”

He wrote on 𝕏: “Throwing stones at synagogue windows, attacking civilians, chanting ‘Death to the Arabs’ and ‘May your village burn down’ - this is the Kahanist Phalangist's way of marking the eve of Memorial Day.”

The Parents Circle-Families Forum later stated, “It is regrettable that on a day like this in which we are memorializing our dear loved ones as a result of the circle of blood, there are those who choose to silence us with violence. We will not stop our campaign for peace, justice, and security for both peoples.”

However, the head of the local branch of the ruling Likud Party praised and supported the riot, threatening to repeat similar events.

“To the Left in Ra’anana, I announce that this is only the opening salvo. Don’t try us,” Racheli Ben Ari Sakat wrote in a Facebook post.

“Whoever comes from outside Ra’anana, get away from here,” she wrote. “And those in Ra’anana, you’ve been warned. We will not be silent anymore [and] will come out in throngs.”

The alternative memorial ceremony has often provoked strong reactions in the past. The ceremony and screening events have often been disrupted by protesters, and Germany’s ambassador courted criticism and a rebuke by the Israeli Foreign Ministry in 2023 after he participated in the ceremony.

Former journalist Caroline Glick, who is now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's International Affairs Adviser, said at the time that the ceremony “meets with overwhelming revulsion” in Israel for drawing “moral equivalency” between Israeli soldiers and terrorists.

She also noted that the NGO Parents Circle – Families Forum receives funds from Germany.

Robi Damelin, a spokeswoman from Parents Circle – Families Forum, acknowledged that the group receives money from the German NGO Bread for the World and the European Union in an interview with Fox News.

However, Damelin, who lost her son David to terrorism in 2002, explained that “Palestinians and Israelis come together to tell their stories on memorial day and hear beautiful music and poetry. I don’t think that it is radical. I think it is unique.”