Military Police tried to arrest a draft‑dodging yeshiva student at his home in Ramat Gan late on Tuesday night. Dozens of extremist ultra‑Orthodox activists arrived at the scene, rioted and overturned a Military Police patrol vehicle. The arrest failed because the deserter was not at home but at his yeshiva, Rabeinu Chaim Ozer. Three of the rioters were arrested.
Two days earlier, extremist ultra‑Orthodox men attacked Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion while he was driving through the Mea She’arim neighborhood, pelting his car with stones. Lion had visited the Karlin Hasidic court in the nearby Beit Yisrael area. When radicals there learned of the visit, they swarmed the scene and threw stones and bags of garbage at his vehicle until he fled. The Karlin community has faced similar attacks because its rebbe has suggested that some of his followers enlist in the IDF.
Riots in front of the home of a yeshiva student set to be arrested by Military Police for draft dodging
After that incident, Lion’s office said in a statement: “During the mayor’s visit to the Mea She’arim neighborhood, several rioters attacked his vehicle and, among other things, shattered the rear windshield.” The statement stressed that “the mayor was not physically attacked, was not injured, and continued his schedule as planned. The incident was transferred to police handling.” It added that “the Jerusalem Municipality views any attempt to harm elected officials or disrupt public order with severity, and will continue to act decisively to safeguard security in the city.”
About a week and a half ago, ultra‑Orthodox youths attacked Shas lawmaker Yoav Ben‑Tzur in Jerusalem amid efforts to advance a bill to draft yeshiva students into the IDF. Dozens surrounded his car, hurled garbage bags at it, and smashed the windows, protesting Shas’ agreement to the draft law. Later, dozens of ultra‑Orthodox protesters also demonstrated in Bnei Brak outside the home of United Torah Judaism member of Knesset Yaakov Asher, who is involved in the bill’s deliberations.
Ben‑Tzur’s office said at the time that he had undergone an “attempted lynching,” and eyewitnesses claimed he “was beaten.” His car windows were shattered and police arrived but initially reported no arrests. A week later police arrested a 14‑year‑old boy from Jerusalem on suspicion of involvement in the attempted attack on the lawmaker. The unusual incident took place after a lesson by Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, former Sephardic chief rabbi and a member of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages—one of the most combative voices against IDF enlistment—attended by Ben‑Tzur. =
A few days after the Ben‑Tzur attack, protesters came to the apartment of Shas Knesset lawmaker Yinon Azoulay, who is involved in drafting the law, and shouted “Traitor! Traitor!” One neighbor threatened to call the police. The protesters also plastered stickers on Azoulay’s car.
Azoulay told Ynet at the time: “I’m fine, I take it with humor. It doesn’t bother me, but I hope they now understand how to distinguish between those who behave like this and those who are sane.