Online mockery after ‘Israeli’ TV star breaks down over incident with Arab street cleaner
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Reality star Maayan Ashkenazi breaks down in tears over street cleaner spraying her car with water in Herzliya, drawing mockery online.
‘Israeli’ reality television personality and Instagram influencer Maayan Ashkenazi shared a series of Instagram Stories on Sunday describing what she ridiculously called a terrifying encounter while waiting at a traffic light in the central coastal settlement Herzliya.
An Arab municipal street-cleaning worker approached her vehicle with a large water hose, sprayed forcefully onto the windshield for several seconds while aiming toward her face, then stared at her in what she described as a threatening manner before walking away.
“I swear to you it was the scariest thing in the world,” Ashkenazi said while visibly crying and shaking.
“At first I thought maybe he was trying to clean my front windshield or that it was a joke… but then he directed the hose and sprayed water hard on the car. For a few seconds he aimed deliberately at my face.” She added that she was alone in the car and could not stop trembling afterward.
The former Big Brother contestant and panelist initially floated the possibility of hostile intent linked to her being Jewish.
“At that moment I thought maybe it was hostile behavior toward me because I’m Jewish, but I don’t know for sure what his intention was,” she said.
“I’m not stopping shaking.”
She contacted the Herzliya municipality to complain and mentioned she had not filmed the incident due to shock.
The municipality responded that it views the incident seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation to determine exactly what happened.
Ashkenazi later updated her followers that the mayor of Herzliya had called her personally, and she thanked city officials for their quick, empathetic response.
Online reactions on Hebrew websites mixed concern with widespread ridicule of the intensity of her framing and tears over a water spray.
Commenters on related posts questioned the drama, with remarks such as “I didn’t understand the drama,” suggestions she was “preparing the ground for a lawsuit,” and sarcastic takes like calling her a “trash can” or saying people should “pity her, such a poor thing.”
Critics portrayed the tearful account of a street cleaner’s hose as an overreaction bordering on the ridiculous, especially amid broader security tensions.
