From the Liveblog of
Monday, April 1, 2024
Smotrich: Behavior of Brothers in Arms causes ‘tremendous damage’ to society
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich condemns the Brothers in Arms movement following clashes between members of the group and ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem on Sunday evening, stating that such behavior can “cause tremendous damage.”
“In war, one should behave as in war, and the first and central thing is to preserve our unity,” Smotrich says during his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
“There will be time for investigations, soul-searching and finding the guilty, there will be time for protests and criticism, the time will come to return to the public in the elections and gain trust” but “now is the time to fight for our future and win the war,” he insists.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the Knesset on Sunday evening, demanding new elections and for the country’s leaders to agree to a hostage deal that will bring about the release of the 130 captives held in Gaza since Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack.
Some protesters blocked traffic and lit bonfires on Jerusalem’s Begin Road while dozens of members of Brothers in Arms staged a demonstration inside the ultra-Orthodox Mea She’arim neighborhood, calling for Haredim to be drafted to the IDF.
Police were deployed to keep the protesters and local ultra-Orthodox residents apart as water and eggs were thrown from nearby buildings.
“The path to the integration of the ultra-Orthodox public is through dialogue,” says Smotrich. “Any form of hatred and defamation like, unfortunately, yesterday at the Brothers to Arms march to Mea She’arim will achieve the opposite result and cause tremendous damage.”
