Opposition lawmakers condemn mob attack on female troops in Bnei Brak: ‘National disgrace’

Opposition politicians condemn the mob attack on two IDF servicewomen in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, declaring it a “national disgrace” and demanding immediate condemnation from Haredi lawmakers.

“Who is Netanyahu more worried about: our soldiers or his coalition partners?” asks Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

“There must be a wave of arrests in the coming hours. It cannot be that in the State of Israel, IDF soldiers and the police are being attacked. Anyone who was part of the attack against our soldiers must find themselves in prison today. Enough with the anarchy,” he says.

“The shocking images from Bnei Brak today, in which IDF female soldiers were rescued from an angry mob and police officers attacked as if this were Jenin, are a moral low point that has nothing to do with Judaism,” says Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, calling on Haredi lawmakers to “strongly condemn this deranged incident before a disaster occurs here!”

The Democrats chairman Yair Golan condemns what he describes as “incitement against service in the IDF, hatred toward soldiers, and a green light from the government to make the streets dangerous for those who defend the country.”

“In the heart of Israel, soldiers are under attack and in need of rescue. The responsibility lies solely with the Haredi leadership, which receives full backing from the prime minister,” says Golan.

“The side that evades service is attacking the side that serves,” says Yashar! party chief Gadi Eisenkot, recalling how IDF troops worked to aid the local population in Bnei Brak “during the most difficult days of the COVID crisis.”

Only a “real” enlistment law that conscripts all Israelis will provide security for Israel and anybody who votes in favor of the government’s bill exempting yeshiva students from military service “betrays the serving public and harms national security,” Eisenkot adds.

Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky blames the attack on “the campaign of incitement against women in the public sphere and the IDF” while party chairman Avigdor Liberman calls the incident a “national disgrace.”

“The attackers are not Jews; they are terrorists,” Liberman declares.

“A bright red line has been crossed here,” declares former prime minister Naftali Bennett, pledging to “return governance to Israel.”