Why I'm Happy About My Confrontation With Israeli Regime Activist Mordechai David

Once you see professional regime agitators up close, you realize how much of their power depends on the fear they project

July 22nd, 14PM July 22nd, 14PM

On Monday evening, Mordechai David – a regime activist and serial provocateur who loves harassing people – at least when there's a camera around – "attacked" me. That's a much more dramatic headline than what actually happened. It cheapens the meaning of an attack by a man on a woman, and that kind of outrage should be reserved for far more serious cases.

David didn't hurt me. He left no marks, and the footage is much less embarrassing than I'd feared it would be. Maybe that's exactly why I'm happy it happened.

A journalist friend posted on X that an ultra-Orthodox protest was gathering outside Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's home in Tel Aviv's Kikar Hamedina, not far from my apartment. Curiosity and FOMO proved stronger than end-of-day exhaustion. I'll never forgive myself for missing the 2023 siege of Sara Netanyahu's hair salon. So I headed over to see what was happening, maybe do some live-posting on social media and hunt for a story.

The demonstration was already well underway when David showed up. He even pointed out to a group of Haredi protesters that the attorney general's house was actually in the opposite direction from where they were planning to march. Someone called out, "Mordechai, finally decided to show up?" and I muttered something about why he was late. Not my finest moment, perhaps, but when I head to demonstrations that have the potential to turn ugly, I leave my "lady suit" at home.

Once he heard me and identified me as a Kaplan protester – the phrase "Here's the CEO of Brothers in Arms" was thrown out there – he pulled out his phone, shoved it in my face and stuck to me.

"Go on," he said. "Repeat what you said so I can sue you." I didn't oblige. I slapped his phone away, exactly as he deserved, and that was followed by an exchange of words and some mutual shoving. It wasn't pleasant, but it was a long way from terrible.

So why am I happy it happened?

First, because Mordechai David deserves to be answered. He deserves pushback. As Shikma Bressler says about the lawsuits against the poison machine, the days of shooting at an empty net are over. We are no longer afraid to get our hands dirty. We are no longer afraid to use strong language. We are no longer pretending to be too dignified or too ethical to confront even pathetic, toy bullies like Mordechai David.

I was raised to ignore people like him. That's probably the "right" thing to do, but it isn't the useful thing to do. They don't interpret silence as indifference. They interpret it as fear. And we are not afraid of them. They need to understand that. Because really, who do they think they are?

The second reason is that once you see people like this up close, you realize how little there is to fear. They aren't intimidating. They aren't frightening. All those warnings about "who knows what he'll do if you answer him" turn out to be little more than intimidation.

Yes, people in this country have been stabbed over parking spaces and beaten to death over arguments at crosswalks. But not in front of cameras, and not by people like Mordechai David. He lives on social media like the most obsessive beauty influencer. A camera is his oxygen tank. He can't afford to do anything genuinely incriminating or harmful while it's working. There's simply nothing to fear from him. And if I hadn't confronted him, I would never have realized just how little there was to fear. How small he is, how insignificant he is, how unthreatening he is.

The violence of this government's supporters is likely to intensify as the election approaches. That doesn't mean people should act recklessly or go looking for unnecessary risks. But neither should we fear people who don't deserve to be feared. People who thrive on our fear, like the monster under the bed when you're 5, collapse the moment you say "boo."

Dare to say "boo" to the Mordechai Davids of the world. It's the only way they'll disappear..