Report: Netanyahu asked Haredi parties to cancel anti-draft protests, fearing optics
TV report says ultra-Orthodox politicians clarified to PM that demonstrations, which saw three arrested amid clashes with polices, were called by extremist Jerusalem Faction
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried, but failed, to have Thursday’s ultra-Orthodox demonstrations against the arrest of draft-dodgers cancelled, out of concern that it would hurt his political campaign, according to Channel 12.
Thousands of Haredi boys and men blocked major roads for hours in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, as others crashed an event of the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party Shas in the Modiin Illit settlement, leading to the evacuation of senior lawmakers.
Police used stun grenades and clubs to disperse the demonstrations, and at least three protesters were arrested, including two who assaulted officers and one who was among dozens of protesters who surrounded and harassed a soldier. The soldier was removed unscathed.
Friday’s TV report said the premier had reached out to the heads of Haredi parties in an appeal to scrap the demonstrations, but that his political allies told him they had no control over the events, which were organized by the extremist Jerusalem Faction.
The Jerusalem Faction, whose demonstrations sometimes devolve into riots, opposes the Haredi political leadership, instead backing Color Black, a newly registered party that has made securing military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men the central issue of its platform.
The Jerusalem Faction had called Thursday’s protests over the purported arrest of Haredi draft dodgers, though the military admitted on Tuesday that it has not been actively working to enforce enlistment orders against ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers “in the recent period.”
According to the report, Netanyahu believes the Haredi draft issue to be the main advantage held by the bloc opposing him in the October 27 elections, seeing it as the glue that holds their alliance together. Indeed, opposition leaders slammed the government over the protests.
Also on Thursday, Jerusalem Faction demonstrators tried to shut down a Shas party event attended by chairman Aryeh Deri and MK Michael Malkieli in Modiin Illit, an ultra-Orthodox settlement in the central West Bank, Haredi media outlets reported.
A Kan news reporter claimed the images from the Modiin Illit hall were published by Shas itself, in an effort to distance the party from the Jerusalem Faction.
The party put out a statement baselessly claiming the protests in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem had received funding from anti-government groups that protested against the government’s judicial overhaul. The Haredi parties were part of the coalition that advanced the overhaul.
Earlier in the week, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters clashed with police at an apartment building in Modiin in an effort to prevent Military Police from arresting a Haredi draft dodger. Security forces ultimately left without taking the man into custody.
Noam Lehmann contributed to this report.