Maria Elkin, wife of New Hope Party MK Ze'ev Elkin, filed a complaint with Israel Police after she was verbally accosted by supporters of Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu outside of her home on Monday.
Elkin can be seen in a series of several videos which circulated on social media being accosted by several protesters, the most aggressive of whom was identified by Ma'ariv reporter Ben Caspit as Likud Party supporter Rami Ben-Yehuda.
Ben-Yehuda can be seen in several videos yelling profanities towards Elkin and calling her a "traitor," due to her husband's decision to depart from the Likud Party along with his fellow New Hope Party members, leaving Netanyahu with fewer than the minimum amount of seats necessary to form a government.
Her husband was forced to leave the Knesset floor early to assist his wife and children, N12's Dafna Liel reported.
In one of the videos, Ben-Yehuda can be seen walking away as more level-headed Likud supporters approach Elkin and begin talking to her about her husband's political decisions.
"There's no reason for you to come to me with this; go to him, he's at the Knesset," she said. "The only ones here are me and my children, who cry at night because of you."
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid condemned the incident in a tweet, writing that "The ugly verbal violence against the family members of my friend Ze'ev Elkin is the absolute rock bottom of these politics of hatred and division. This is exactly what we need to change; this is exactly what an Israeli unity government can change."
Elkin's wife has suffered repeated abuse in recent days from Likud supporters, with her husband tweeting last week that the protests have had the exact opposite of their intended effects.
"For the information of the group of lunatics who came tonight to demonstrate near my house for Netanyahu, frightened my 5-year-old girl, shouted at her that her father was a Leftist and a criminal, and demanded that my wife go out to them: Thanks for the reminder of what the discourse culture at the home which you call on me to return to looks like today," Elkin wrote.
"Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for the additional encouragement to work toward a government of change."לידיעת חבורת המטורפים שבאו הערב להפגין ליד ביתי למען נתניהו, הבהילו את הילדה שלי בת 5, צעקו לעברה שאבא שלה שמאלן ופושע ודרשו ממנה שאשתי תצא אליהם: תודה על התזכורת איך נראית היום תרבות השיח בבית, שאתם קוראים לי לחזור אליו. אדוני רה״מ תודה על העידוד הנוסף לפעול למען ממשלת שינוי.
— Zeev Elkin (@zeev_elkin) April 12, 2021