From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 16, 2026
Court releases all 28 people arrested in ultra-Orthodox mob attack on 2 female IDF soldiers
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All 28 Haredi men and teens who were arrested during mass riots in Bnei Brak yesterday have been freed, a lawyer representing the suspects tells The Times of Israel.
The riots erupted when a hundreds-strong mob attacked two female soldiers who arrived in the ultra-Orthodox city. Rioters lightly injured five police officers, overturned a patrol car and set an officer’s motorcycle on fire.
Shlomo Hadad, a lawyer representing the detainees, says police argued during today’s hearings that his clients were arrested on suspicion of attacking officers and setting fire to a motorcycle. The court freed them “because there was no evidence for anything,” he claims, characterizing the arrests as a “show for the media.”
However, two of the suspects, while released from detention, were ordered to five days of house arrest over what the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court cited as “reasonable suspicion” that they had assaulted a police officer, Ynet reports.
Four of the detainees were minors, Hadad says, and were thus brought to the Bat Yam Juvenile Court, which ordered their release.
Tel Aviv District police commander Haim Sargaroff told reporters yesterday evening that police were still searching for those who overturned the patrol car and set fire to the motorcycle.
The Times of Israel Community.