2 minors nabbed for alleged attack on Shas MK’s son over Haredi draft exemption bill
Assailants reportedly curse victim over IDF draft issue in latest attack on ultra-Orthodox lawmakers by hardline elements; Shas casts incident as ‘desecration of God’s name’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Two minors were detained on Monday for allegedly attacking the son of a lawmaker in Ashdod, appearing to target him over the ultra-Orthodox Shas party’s support for a bill to regulate military draft exemptions for yeshiva students.
The two allegedly attacked the son of Shas MK Yinon Azoulay while he was walking with a friend. The victim’s condition was unknown. According to Channel 12 news, the attackers cursed him over Shas’s backing of a bill regulating the conscription of yeshiva students, which the party sees as “the only thing that will save the world of Torah.”
Police said they arrested the two suspects near the scene and intended to request that their custody be extended.
The Shas party on Tuesday slammed what it said was violence from an “extremist faction” against Azoulay’s son.
“This is a dangerous red line being crossed by a group of unbridled rioters, whose actions defame the entire Haredi public and are a desecration of God’s name,” the party said in a statement demanding that police take action.
“It cannot be that an extremist group continues to terrorize the public and its elected officials, and goes unpunished again and again,” the party declared.
Azoulay is Shas’s representative on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which is debating a bill ostensibly aimed at boosting ultra-Orthodox enlistment to the Israel Defense Forces following the High Court of Justice’s 2024 ruling that sweeping Haredi exemptions from military service were illegal.
Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has previously said it urgently needed 12,000 recruits, due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.
The current version of the bill put forward by the government proposes continued military service exemptions to full-time yeshiva students while purportedly increasing conscription among graduates of Haredi educational institutions.
Critics, including the IDF brass and attorney general, have objected to the bill on the grounds that it is full of loopholes and will not increase Haredi enlistment — while hardline Haredi elements object to legislation conscripting or sanctioning any members of their community.
Responding to the attack on X, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud) condemned the “outrageous and ugly violence” against his colleague’s son, stating that his work on the bill “only deepened my appreciation for your dedication and your true commitment to the people of Israel.”
A history of violence
Sunday’s incident was the latest in a series of attacks against ultra-Orthodox MKs perceived as supportive of the controversial legislation. The bill is supported by Shas and the United Torah Judaism party’s Degel HaTorah faction while UTJ’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction is largely opposed.
In March 2025, then-minister Meir Porush’s son was beaten in an attack thought to be linked to the issue, while in Mid-November, ultra-Orthodox crowds on one evening both smashed the window of Shas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur’s car in Jerusalem and protested outside the home of Degel HaTorah MK Ya’akov Asher in Bnei Brak.
ברקע חוק הגיוס: חה״כ יואב בן צור מש״ס הותקף ביציאה מהשיעור השבועי ע״י מפגינים חרדים קיצוניים pic.twitter.com/oxbt7uiFPb
— יעקב הרשקוביץ | Yaakov hershkowitz (@yaakov_hershko) November 15, 2025
Two days later, Channel 12 reported that Asher and fellow Degel HaTorah MK Moshe Gafni had been provided with heightened security following threats from hardline Haredi elements.
Later that week, a group demonstrated in Azoulay’s apartment building, chanting “traitor” at his door.
The following week, Shas and UTJ filed a complaint with the Israel Police against Zvi Roth, a senior official in the Haredi hardline Jerusalem Faction, accusing him of incitement to murder and calls for violence against public representatives.
According to the complaint, Roth used the faction’s telephone hotlines, which connect to thousands of citizens, to make extremist statements, including comparisons between Haredi leaders and Nazis, and even encouragement to harm them directly.
בקריאות "בוגד": חרדים קיצוניים הפגינו בבניין המגורים של ח"כ ינון אזולאי מש"ס@shlomoraichman pic.twitter.com/26qnGuTinr
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) November 19, 2025
The Jerusalem Faction was one of the organizers of a recent anti-conscription demonstration in Jerusalem during which a teenage boy was run over and killed by a driver whose bus had been surrounded and attacked by rioters.
During the demonstration, which was also backed by Rabbi Moshe Tzedakah, a member of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages, demonstrators distributed flyers castigating the party for supporting the bill.
After yesterday’s attack against MK Azoulay’s kid, it’s worth mentioning how angry hardline elements within Shas are against the party for its support of the conscription bill. Here’s some flyers from a recent anti-conscription protest pic.twitter.com/YQzRO0nzdu
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) January 20, 2026
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri has faced criticism from some members of the party’s rabbinic leadership for his handling of the military conscription issue.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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