‘Even worse’ than Hamas: Likud MK Vaturi calls left-wing lawmaker Lazimi an ‘enemy’

Likud MK Nissim Vaturi lashed out on Thursday at Naama Lazimi, a lawmaker with the left-wing The Democrats party, calling her an “enemy” and worse than the Hamas terror group, sparking accusations of incitement to violence against the dovish MK.

“She could run for office, you know where? For the head of Hamas perhaps in Gaza,” Vaturi said in an interview with the Kol Berama Haredi radio station. “That’s who she is, she’s not fit to run in Israel.”

Vaturi, who was first elected to the Knesset in 2020, added that “whoever harms Israel from within is even worse than that [Hamas]. Our enemies are among us, in the soft underbelly, in the Knesset.”

The Likud MK said that the left-wing in Israel “are frustrated because they can’t come to terms with four years of this government,” and Lazimi, “whenever she stands at the [Knesset] podium she curses everyone and curses the prime minister.”

Lazimi responded to Vaturi on Thursday by saying that “Netanyahu and his people have put a target on my back. The government of draft-dodgers and failure is inviting the next political assassination.”

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The Democrats MK added that “our blood is on their hands… it isn’t me they’re trying to scare, but the whole liberal camp and anyone who opposes the government. The Likud has become a bankrupt mafia. They have nothing to sell so they’re turning to incitement and violence against the people whom the Israeli public wants to replace them with.”

Lazimi continued: “They won’t scare me, they won’t stop us and they won’t prevent change.”

The remarks from Vaturi, a lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling party, came less than two weeks after United Torah Judaism MK Yitzhak Pindrus said Lazimi should be shot in the legs for protesting.

And it is not the first time the two lawmakers have clashed. During a hearing last year about the appointment of a Likud MK accused of rape to a committee chair position, security intervened as Vaturi and Lazimi argued and the incident escalated. Lazimi said Likud was a “criminal organization” and Vaturi called her an “idiot” and a “criminal.”

The Democrats party chair Yair Golan said Thursday that the coalition has “no limit to its disgrace. These are despicable people.”

“They are targeting Naama because they are afraid of her. They are afraid of strong, courageous, hardworking, and effective female members of Knesset,” Golan added. “Very soon we will replace them. They will no longer be able to hide behind immunity — those who engage in incitement will be punished.”

Lazimi is one of the more prominent left-wing lawmakers in Israel and was a staple at anti-government protests for several years, including weekly rallies organized by the Hostages Families Forum.

Last year during a protest in Jerusalem, video footage showed police officers rough-handling Lazimi, drawing condemnation from protest groups and political allies. She later said that police dragged and hit her even after she told them she was a member of Knesset.

The outspoken Vaturi has made a series of controversial and inflammatory remarks in the past. In 2024, he was among a group of lawmakers who broke into an IDF base to protest the detention of reservists accused of abusing Palestinian detainees.

Last year, he suggested that Golan — a former IDF deputy chief of staff who rushed to the front lines on October 7 — may have collaborated with Hamas and “betrayed” the country. In 2024, Vaturi was accused by the relatives of hostages held by Hamas of shoving them after they approached him in the Knesset.

And in November, Vaturi said that Meir Kahane — an extremist rabbi who was banned from the Knesset for being racist — “was right about many things” and that “today he’d be seen as holy, he’d get the Israel Prize.”