Two MKs from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism faction are receiving heightened security after riots by Haredi extremists opposed to a bill regulating conscription for yeshiva students, Channel 12 reports.
The two lawmakers, Moshe Gafni and Ya’akov Asher, are receiving the second-highest level of security monitoring, including protection at home, the network reports, citing police sources that say the two have received many threats.
On Saturday night, Haredi rioters demonstrated outside Asher’s home in Bnei Brak, after another group rioted around Shas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur’s car, smashing its window and drawing outcry from across party lines.
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently debating a bill that would regulate conscription and exemptions for Haredi men.
Haredi leaders have long insisted on enshrining longstanding sweeping exemptions for their community from the military draft.
Opposition lawmakers have slammed the bill being discussed as a way to enable the yeshiva students to continue avoiding the draft while the IDF faces a manpower shortage. Coalition MKs say it offers a pathway to increasing Haredi draft numbers.
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