Cop seen brandishing gun at protester blocking traffic in a tunnel

By Sam Sokol 24 June 2026, 8:21 pm

1 Edit

Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"

Hasidic anti-conscription demonstrators block vehicular traffic in a tunnel, angering motorists and leading a police officer to lift his gun at a Haredi man before pushing him, footage shared online by the ultra-Orthodox HaPargod outlet shows.

It is unclear where the event took place, but it appears to have been near Jerusalem.

Hasidim blocking traffic in a tunnel (looks like near Jerusalem) and a cop raising his gun at a Haredi demonstrator pic.twitter.com/3Klzl96DK1

— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) June 24, 2026

The outlet also reports that a member of the Gur Hasidic sect participating in the protest convoy was injured in a crash near Safed in northern Israel.

In a separate incident, the Shlomei Emunim movement, a block within the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction of United Torah Judaism, claims that Beitar Illit Deputy Mayor Gedalyahu Eisenstein “was severely and violently attacked during a protest convoy leaving Beitar Illit” when an angry member of the public “crashed into his vehicle and then began violently choking” him.

Asked for comment, a spokesman for Eisenstein tells The Times of Israel that he underwent medical checks and is fine. “One of the people who was angry about the signs got out, blocked him, and tried to pull him out of the vehicle by force. He went for medical checks and afterward returned to participate in the protest,” the spokesman says.

In a video, Eisenstein states that his assailant “blocked my car, forcibly took me out and started beating and strangling me. There were other people there who helped me and rescued me.”

In a video recorded from his car, United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknof claims that the demonstrators acted “in an exemplary manner, responsibly, and without any violence.”

“It is a shame that there are those who chose to act violently toward the protest participants simply because they sought to exercise their democratic right to protest,” he says. “I expect the Israel Police to act decisively against those individuals and bring them to justice.”