From the Liveblog of
Monday, March 17, 2025
Haredi minister Meir Porush’s son attacked, apparently over army enlistment fight
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Haredi Minister Meir Porush’s son was beaten yesterday in Jerusalem by assailants who reportedly tried to snatch the minister’s infant grandson — an attack thought to be linked to the politician’s support for the state budget.
The attackers, said to be neighbors affiliated with the Gur Hasidic dynasty, nabbed the stroller from Moshe Porush, tore his clothes and pulled at his beard, according to eyewitnesses speaking to Channel 12.
The younger Porush was badly bruised and taken to the hospital by Magen David Adom paramedics, while his baby was rescued after some 10 minutes.
Speaking with The Times of Israel, a spokesman for Porush says the minister’s grandson is “physically fine” and that his son was released from the hospital with bruising.
The spokesman adds 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.
The attack comes 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.
Expressing his hope that police will find those who carried out the attack, the spokesman notes that Porush has “refused to sign” Goldknopf’s ultimatum to Netanyahu.
A Jerusalem District police spokesman tells 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 Times of Israel Community.