Arrests in Mea Shearim for attacking Haredi soldiers
The police have been active in the wake of numerous attacks on Haredi soldiers; a police detective went undercover as an IDF soldier in the Jerusalem neighborhood, and when a group of extremists came to attack him, police jumped on the suspects and arrested them.
A police detective who went undercover as an IDF soldier led to the arrest of eight suspects who attacked uniformed men in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem on Thursday.
The undercover operation took place Thursday when the detective entered Mea Shearim wearing a military uniform, and when a group of extremists attacked him, they were jumped by police officers who then followed to arrest them.
The Israel Police said it "had been working for quite some time to locate and arrest suspects in the attacks of soldiers in the Mea Shearim neighborhood, only because they were in uniform."
During the activity, police forces spotted suspects who began attacking, spitting and throwing objects at a uniformed person who was walking in the neighborhood—and they immediately arrested them. Among the detainees were also suspects who attempted to prevent the police from arresting the attackers.
On Wednesday, residents of the Mea Shearim neighborhood attacked a soldier from the Givati Brigade and threw eggs at him. Some of those present called the soldier "Hardak"—which is a derogatory term that means "fickle haredi." A police force summoned to the scene arrested one of the suspects in the incident.
On Sunday, another case of violence against ultra-Orthodox soldiers was recorded when local residents shouted abuse at an ultra-Orthodox IDF soldier who had entered a store in the neighborhood.
The rescued soldier refused to file a complaint with the police. In the footage captured from the scene, a few ultra-Orthodox crowded the shop, shouting and even throwing a hat at a policewoman.
On the same day, the Jerusalem faction of the ultra-Orthodox community announced that it was expanding the protest against the arrest of the draft-dodging yeshiva students. The plan was to hold demonstrations in Ben Gurion Airport at one of the busiest times of the year, in a manner that would potentially detain departing passengers.
In an "important announcement" published by the Committee to Save the World of Torah, the organization that organized the demonstrations against the draft, it was written: "In light of the escalation in the government's harassment of prisoners of the Torah world, it was decided to expand the protest so that it will reach the ears of the entire world."
(Translated and edited by N. Elias)
