Ultra-Orthodox minor, men arrested for anti-IDF draft attacks

Three people in the central city of Beit Shemesh were detained over separate violent assaults to protest the drafting of ultra-Orthodox conscripts into the IDF, police said Sunday.

An ultra-Orthodox teen, 14, was arrested for attacking a soldier, as were two men alleged to have hurled stones during a violent protest against the draft, injuring a police officer.

Both incidents occurred earlier this month and the arrests took place in the overnight hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

As cops moved in to make the arrests they also prepared to counter any attempts by local protesters to hinder the operation, police said in a statement. The arrests came after “a complicated and determined investigation” that included an undercover operation “to gather precise information and evidence,” police said.

The suspects were taken in for questioning and are expected to be arraigned in Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court and kept in custody.

Many in the ultra-Orthodox community shun the mandatory military service that applies to most Israelis, and the community has historically enjoyed blanket exemptions in favor of religious seminary studies.

Reforms passed in the Knesset in 2014 — later rolled back in 2015 — sought to do away with the exemptions and gradually increase ultra-Orthodox recruitment.

Although many Haredi men have joined the IDF, their service is often reviled by other members of the community, leading to incidents of assault on ultra-Orthodox soldiers.

“Police will not hesitate to continue to take a firm hand against anyone who attacks those in uniform anywhere, and will act to take criminal proceedings against them and bring them to justice,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in the statement. “Police are working hard to deal with the trend, by gathering intelligence information against perpetrators of the attacks and incitement against those in uniform, in order to preemptively identify and, as much as possible, prevent offenses being committed.”

According to police, on November 11 an ultra-Orthodox IDF soldier walking in Beit Shemesh was set up on by a crowd of Haredi protesters. During the assault another IDF soldier, a serving ultra-Orthodox officer who was on leave from the army, was driving past with his family and stopped to help.

He left the vehicle and went to extract the other soldier but the crowd then attacked him and his vehicle instead, throwing stones at the car and preventing him from driving away.

Police did not report any injuries in the incident but opened an investigation.

A week earlier earlier, during a protest against the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox draft-dodger, dozens of Haredi men blocked roads and threw stones, injuring a policeman in Beit Shemesh. Similar protests were held at the same time in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.