23 Facts About Baruch Marzel

Baruch Meir Marzel is an Israeli politician and activist.

Baruch Marzel is an Orthodox Jew originally from Boston who now lives in the Jewish community of Hebron in Tel Rumeida with his wife and nine children.

Baruch Marzel was the leader of the far-right-oriented Jewish National Front party.

Baruch Marzel was the "right-hand man" of assassinated Rabbi Meir Kahane, acting as spokesman for the American-born rabbi's Kach organization for ten years.

Baruch Marzel gave up his US citizenship when he ran for the Knesset.

Baruch Marzel served in the IDF Armored Corps and fought in the 1982 Lebanon War, participating in battles along the Beirut-Damascus highway, after which he served in the United States as a representative for Sar-El.

Baruch Marzel was considered too far-right for Israel's hard-right parties, such as the National Union or the National Religious Party.

In 2009, after fellow party member Michael Ben-Ari won a seat in Knesset on the National Union list, Baruch Marzel agreed to serve as Ben-Ari's parliamentary aide.

In 2013, Baruch Marzel ran for the Knesset again, this time on the third slot of the newly founded Otzma LeYisrael party, which splintered from National Union.

Baruch Marzel's inclusion came as a result of a compromise between the two parties, including the exclusion of Michael Ben-Ari and the inclusion of Baruch Marzel.

The reasons given for the disqualification of Baruch Marzel were several statements attributed to him, which groups petitioning the move claimed qualified as "racism".

Baruch Marzel is a writer for the Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva.

Baruch Marzel was first arrested by police at age 14.

Baruch Marzel was suspected of being involved in several incidents in Hebron that took place six months prior, in which several Palestinians allegedly were attacked.

In 2014, Yariv Oppenheimer, chairman of Peace Now, signed a police complaint against Baruch Marzel alleging threats against his life by his followers.

The telephone won't stop ringing, and on the other end, human scum who follow Baruch Marzel continue to curse and threaten.

In March 2015, six days before the 2015 legislative election, the Judea-Samaria District Police filed charges in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court alleging that Baruch Marzel attacked a Palestinian Arab in 2013.

In February 2017, Baruch Marzel was arrested after clashing with police while protesting the demolition of Amona, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Baruch Marzel has in the past advocated violence towards homosexuals in Israel, calling for a religious war against them during a radio interview.

Baruch Marzel brought with him to the demonstration three donkeys.

Five years later, during the 2017 Jerusalem gay pride march, Baruch Marzel again led a counter-demonstration.

Baruch Marzel is seen as a central figure in the anti-assimilation Lehava group, along with Rabbi Ben-Zion Gopstein.

In 2006, Baruch Marzel sent an open letter to Linor Abargil, asking her not to marry non-Jewish Lithuanian NBA player Sarunas Jasikevicius.