{"id":382464,"date":"2025-11-16T07:07:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T07:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/382464\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T07:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T07:07:15","slug":"haredi-crowds-smash-mks-car-window-protest-at-anothers-home-in-furor-over-draft-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/382464\/","title":{"rendered":"Haredi crowds smash MK’s car window, protest at another’s home in furor over draft bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ultra-Orthodox crowds targeted two Haredi MKs from different parties on Saturday night, protesting their cooperation in the advancement of a bill to regulate conscription for yeshiva students.<\/p>\n

In the first incident following Shabbat, extremists smashed a window of Shas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur\u2019s vehicle as he left a weekly lesson in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Later that night, dozens of Haredi demonstrators protested outside the home of United Torah Judaism MK Ya\u2019akov Asher in Bnei Brak. The protest appeared to be disorganized, with participants flanked by police vehicles and additional officers arriving to control the crowd.<\/p>\n

The riot surrounding Ben-Tzur\u2019s vehicle drew condemnation across the political spectrum, including from his party. The protests are the latest instance in which a hardline faction of Haredim has demonstrated its rejection of any plan that would conscript yeshiva students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Shas movement strongly condemns the severe attack on MK Yoav Ben-Tzur\u2019s car, which was committed in Jerusalem by a handful of rioters,\u201d Ben-Tzur\u2019s party said in a statement. \u201cViolent actions like this, which desecrate God\u2019s name, are not the path of the Torah, and do not represent any God-fearing community.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Haredi men have long been exempted from Israel\u2019s mandatory draft, a practice the High Court declared illegal last year.\u00a0 In addition, the Israel Defense Forces has said that it faces an acute manpower shortage owing to Israel\u2019s conflicts in Gaza and on other fronts, heightening the pressure to create a framework that would regulate Haredi conscription.<\/p>\n

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\u05d1\u05e8\u05e7\u05e2 \u05d7\u05d5\u05e7 \u05d4\u05d2\u05d9\u05d5\u05e1: \u05d7\u05d4\u05f4\u05db \u05d9\u05d5\u05d0\u05d1 \u05d1\u05df \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05de\u05e9\u05f4\u05e1 \u05d4\u05d5\u05ea\u05e7\u05e3 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e6\u05d9\u05d0\u05d4 \u05de\u05d4\u05e9\u05d9\u05e2\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e2\u05d9 \u05e2\u05f4\u05d9 \u05de\u05e4\u05d2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05e8\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05e7\u05d9\u05e6\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd pic.twitter.com\/oxbt7uiFPb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u05d9\u05e2\u05e7\u05d1 \u05d4\u05e8\u05e9\u05e7\u05d5\u05d1\u05d9\u05e5 | Yaakov harshkovits (@yaakov_hershko) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Haredi parties have pushed for continued 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.\n<\/p>\n

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth said on Saturday<\/a> that he was close to presenting the final text of a bill on the issue. Bismuth says the law will mark a significant change by drafting a portion of Haredi men who are not enrolled in a yeshiva.<\/p>\n

But opposition lawmakers have charged that it will enable most ultra-Orthodox men to keep avoiding military service, while imposing only weak penalties for those who evade the draft and paving the way for the Haredi parties to rejoin Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s coalition.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tShas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur (Noam Revkin Fenton\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Politicians with differing positions on the conscription bill united on Saturday in condemnation of the attack on Ben-Tzur\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI condemn in the strongest terms the attack on MK Yoav Ben-Tzur. This is not the way of the Torah, this is not the way of the State of Israel; these violent criminals must be dealt with severely,\u201d Opposition Leader Yair Lapid posted on X.<\/p>\n

The attack constitutes \u201ca serious crossing of the line and a blatant attempt to intimidate public officials,\u201d declared Bismuth. \u201cSensitive issues, such as military conscription, will be discussed in the proper forum, with serious dialogue, careful consideration, and democratic decisions. Not in the street, and not under threats from extremists.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2014 \u05d4\u05e4\u05e8\u05d2\u05d5\u05d3 (@moshepargod) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman blamed the violence on the longstanding conscription exemption enjoyed by yeshiva students, which he has long opposed.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a person is conditioned to idleness and draft-dodging, he becomes violent when someone tries to take that idleness away from him,\u201d Liberman said.<\/p>\n


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