Assailants beat Haredi minister’s son, try to snatch his infant grandson

Jerusalem Affairs Minister Minister Meir Porush’s son was beaten Sunday night in Jerusalem by assailants who reportedly also tried to snatch the minister’s infant grandson — an attack thought to be linked to the Haredi politician’s support for the state budget and inter-party disputes concerning army enlistment.

The attackers, said to be neighbors affiliated with the Gur Hasidic dynasty, nabbed the baby’s stroller from Moshe Porush while he was in the stairwell near his father’s residence, tearing his clothes and pulling at his beard, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to Channel 12.

The younger Porush was badly bruised and taken to the hospital by Magen David Adom paramedics, while his baby was rescued by the minister’s security detail after some 10 minutes.

Speaking with The Times of Israel, a spokesman for Porush said the grandson is “physically fine” and that his son was released from the hospital with bruising.

The spokesman added that the assailants shouted at Moshe Porush: “Your father is harming the admor of Gur, we will avenge him,” referring to the sect’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter.

A Jerusalem District police spokesman told The Times of Israel that they are investigating the attack on Porush’s son, but are not treating the incident as a kidnapping attempt.

The attack came amidst sharp disagreements between ultra-Orthodox factions regarding efforts to pass a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service.

Lawmakers within the United Torah Judaism party, which Porush is a part of, are divided over how to advance the legislation. Party chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf and other members of his Agudat Yisrael faction recently wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn that they will vote against the state budget if the government does not deal with military enlistment first.

The party’s non-Hasidic Degel Hatorah faction as well as the Sephardic Shas party have not signed on to Goldknopf’s ultimatum. Neither has Porush, whose Shlomei Emunim subfaction is part of Agudat Yisrael.

Moshe Porush currently manages the Hasidic daily newspaper HaMevasser, affiliated with Shlomei Emunim.

Expressing his hope that police will find those who carried out the attack, the spokesman noted that Porush has “refused to sign” Goldknopf’s ultimatum to Netanyahu.

Despite declining to support Goldknopf’s threat, Porush has stood firmly opposed to Haredi enlistment.

At a faction meeting in December, Porush announced the establishment of a helpline that a recent Times of Israel investigation found was counseling callers to “just ignore” summonses to the IDF’s recruitment bureau. Under Israeli law, someone inciting others to evade service during wartime is liable to a prison term of 15 years.