Police say they’ve arrested a young man suspected of flipping a police patrol car during mass riots in Bnei Brak, which broke out after a Haredi mob attacked two female soldiers in the city at the start of the week.
The suspect, a 19-year-old from the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit, was apprehended today.
He was taken into custody after his interrogation and is due for a court hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, where police will request to extend his detention.
The teen is thought to have helped to overturn a police vehicle while it was left unattended by officers, who rushed on foot to rescue the two servicewomen, hiding from an angry crowd of residents who spotted them in uniform.
The mob also set a police motorcycle on fire, burning it to a crisp along with tefillin and a prayer book inside the luggage box, and attacked officers who were dispatched to the scene.
Police arrested over two dozen suspects that afternoon, but the vast majority were set free from the police station within hours. Seven were brought to court the next day, where a judge ordered them to house arrest.
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 19, 2026
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