Security beefed up for 2 UTJ lawmakers over threats from Haredi extremists — report

Two MKs from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism faction are reportedly receiving heightened security after riots by Haredi extremists opposed to a bill regulating conscription for yeshiva students.

The two lawmakers, Moshe Gafni and Ya’akov Asher, are receiving the second-highest level of security monitoring, including protection at home, Channel 12 news reported Monday, citing police sources who said 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 threats against elected representatives of the Haredi public have escalated in recent weeks. Evidence of this is the violent demonstration that took place near the home of MK Ben-Tzur from the Shas party, alongside more and more attempted attacks by Haredi extremists who are unwilling to accept the conscription bill that is being formulated,” a senior police official told Channel 12.

Another official said, “From the information we have, there are those who will still try to escalate the attacks and threaten the safety of Knesset members. We are preparing for this scenario.”

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently debating a bill that would regulate conscription and exemptions for Haredi men.

Haredi men have long been exempted from Israel’s mandatory draft, a practice the High Court declared illegal last year. In addition, the Israel Defense Forces has said that it faces an acute manpower shortage owing to Israel’s conflicts in Gaza and on other fronts, heightening the pressure to create a framework that would regulate Haredi conscription.

Haredi parties have pushed to enshrine draft exemptions, including by breaking with the government and boycotting coalition legislation. Late last month, some 200,000 ultra-Orthodox men blocked the entrance to Jerusalem for a mass protest against conscription.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth said on Saturday that he was close to presenting the final text of a bill on the issue.

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.

According to Hebrew-language news reports, a document of principles submitted by Bismuth to his committee’s legal adviser stipulates that within five years, 50 percent of the annual Haredi draft cohort will be conscripted, and the age of exemption will remain at 26. Government funding for yeshivas will only be cut if they fail to meet army enlistment quotas after a year, and sanctions on individuals who do not serve in the army will only go into effect after two years if the overall enlistment goal is not met.