A Tel Aviv court on Wednesday ordered the conditional release of a far-right activist accused of spitting on former prime minister Ehud Olmert.

Police arrested Tel Aviv resident Eliran Simantov, 40, on Tuesday night for allegedly spitting and cursing at Olmert at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, where the former premier was attending a conference.

Simantov is an associate of another, more well-known far-right agitator, Mordechai David, who films himself accosting political figures seen as adversarial to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Simantov denied spitting on Olmert, and told investigators he only swore at him. He claimed that he had been at the cinematheque to see a movie but couldn’t say which one, according to Hebrew media.

The police reportedly said that they were called after Olmert’s security guards intervened.

They noted that Simantov has a criminal record.

Speaking to Ynet, Olmert said, “I’m glad he was arrested. This is a group of thugs trying to scare anyone........

© The Times of Israel