Dozens of Haredi men protest arrest of IDF draft dodgers at private home of Supreme Court president

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox men protested against the arrest of an IDF draft evader in front of the home of the Supreme Court President on Sunday evening, the latest in a series of demonstrations and riots near the homes of senior officials ostensibly involved in a recent campaign of such arrests.

The group of ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men gathered near Supreme Court President Isaac Amit’s private home in the town of Mevaseret Zion, near Jerusalem, before they were dispersed by the police. No arrests were reported.

As in recent similar incidents, the spontaneous demonstration was triggered by alert messages circulated on the Haredi community’s “black lines,” an informal communication network used in recent months to mobilize protests against the arrest of draft evaders.

Recent weeks have seen a noticeable rise in Haredi demonstrations against the increasing arrests of draft evaders by the Israel Police and IDF Military Police following renewed instructions from the Supreme Court to enforce the existing IDF draft law.

Some demonstrations have turned into blockades of major roads, while others successfully prevented arrests or saw violent clashes with police.

In the most serious incident two weeks ago, dozens rioted outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, damaging the entrance to the home and shattering windows before trying to flee on several buses. Police arrested more than 70 men, but are still reportedly investigating who coordinated and financed the transport of dozens of protesters.

On Sunday, four of the arrested individuals were indicted on charges of rioting and trespassing with intent to commit an offense.

According to the indictment, the rioters threw stones at the house and tried to break in while Sohlberg and his wife were at home, chanting slogans like “Nazi” and carrying Israeli flags with the star of David replaced by a swastika.

The police later transferred 19 of the arrested men into IDF custody after learning they were draft dodgers themselves. This incident triggered a new wave of violent protests.

Last Wednesday, three individuals were arrested for rioting and attacking police officers at a demonstration against the arrests of the Sohlberg home rioters. The police said they “attacked officers, threw objects and refused to obey the instructions of forces at the scene.”

The following day, thousands of Haredi men blocked highways and railroads across central Israel for several hours while protesting against the arrests.

The extremist group, Jerusalem Faction, had reportedly promoted those protests, and, once again, thousands had been transported using buses from Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and other towns with large Haredi populations.

Two ultra-Orthodox men were injured during the demonstrations when cars crashed into them while they attempted to block roads.

Demonstrating the high degree of coordination by extremist Haredi factions, some 100 protesters showed up at the entrance of the city of Ashdod when two 25-year-old Haredi men were detained by police overnight between Thursday and Friday.

The two draft evaders activated the “Color Black” hotline, part of the Haredi information network named as a play on the “Color Red” rocket alert system.

A crowd of around 100 Haredi men quickly appeared on the scene, with police later stating that the men had “tried to disrupt our work.” In the end, police officers only reported the incident to military police without arresting them.

A month and a half ago, dozens of Haredi men rioted at the home of the Chief Military Police Officer (CMPO) in Ashkelon. Seventeen people, including four minors, were indicted on Monday after the crowd broke through a locked entrance gate, shouted slogans outside the family home, and caused damage estimated at several thousand shekels.

Amid the protests, the governing coalition has tried to pass the “Daycare Centers Bill,” intended to bypass court guidelines freezing daycare subsidies for married full-time Torah students under draft enforcement measures.

The objective behind the legislative push is to stabilize the coalition and prevent early elections by securing Haredi party support, which have threatened to boycott any legislation until the end of the term.

The bill passed a preliminary reading on May 27 but drew strong internal criticism from some coalition members. On Monday, Haredi parties were informed that the bill would be shelved due to the lack of support.

The chairman of the Degel HaTorah Party, Moshe Gafni, responded by threatening, “If there is no majority for this law, then there is no majority for anything else. If they do not bring it to a vote, they can shut down the Knesset plenum. We will not vote with the coalition.”