According to Tobi, a man approached her closely, touched her filming equipment, and disrupted her broadcast, claiming that she was filming people in the background.
Channel 14 northern correspondent Gal Tobi was verbally assaulted and harassed while covering voting at a polling station in Haifa's Denya neighborhood on Tuesday morning, she told Walla.
Tubi arrived at the polling station alone, without a cameraman. According to her, a man approached her, stood uncomfortably close, and touched her equipment, including during a live broadcast.
Tubi said the man accused her of filming people in the background. She explained that she was in a public space and even adjusted the camera angle to ensure that only she appeared on screen. Despite her efforts to accommodate his request, she said the man continued to interfere with her work.
"Even though I accommodated him so as not to offend anyone, he stood very close to me and harassed me," she said.
Tubi claimed the man arrived with two others and later told his companions, "We don't want Channel 14." She also said she heard remarks against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the incident, while others at the polling station intervened and tried to defend her.
"They started acting like bullies, disrupted my broadcast and touched my equipment," Tubi recounted. "I was verbally attacked and harassed," she added.
The incident left Tubi visibly distressed, and she broke down in tears. She said that she and her colleagues at Channel 14 had encountered similar incidents while carrying out their regular reporting duties.
Addressing the incident during a Channel 14 broadcast, Tubi made clear that she intended to continue her journalistic work despite what had happened.
"We'll get through this and continue bringing you the voices from the field. We won't pay attention to people like that. Not everyone here is like that," she said.
'All brothers here'
Ofer Winter, chairman of the People of Israel party, condemned the reported attack and harassment of the Channel 14 correspondent in Haifa.
"We are all brothers here! We must put an end to attacks by one brother against another," he said.
Winter called on law enforcement authorities to take action, saying the incident was the latest in a series of similar cases involving journalists and media crews.
"There is no place for this violence in Israeli society, and any attack on media outlets doing their jobs must be condemned clearly and unequivocally," he said.