Charedi rioters target female IDF soldiers in Bnei Brak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the rioting which took place yesterday in the strictly orthodox city of Bnei Brak in which female IDF soldiers were chased, stating that: “we will not allow anarchy, and we will not tolerate any harm to IDF servicemembers and security forces personnel who carry out their duties with dedication and determination.”

The rioting began after two female soldiers visited a building as part of what the IDF said was a routine welfare visit. However, word spread that the soldiers were there to distribute military draft notices, leading to the formation of a mob who chased the soldiers away. One of them later told Israeli media that they had felt the need to hide in ‘garbage dumpsters’ to escape the rioters. Video footage ultimately showed the two women, dressed in military uniforms, fleeing as police officers attempted to protect them. The rioters threw stones and set a police car on fire, with officers subsequently using stun grenades to clear the area. 22 people are believed to have been arrested in connection with the rioting.

In his statement, Netanyahu made sure to emphasise that the rioters were “an extreme minority” of the strictly orthodox community, but other Israeli politicians were more critical. Naftali Bennet, the former Israeli Prime Minister who is likely to run again in this year’s national elections, visited Bnei Brak after the rioting, filming a video of himself saying: “this is what happens when people sense that draft evasion is winning.”

“This didn’t happen in a vacuum; there is an address for this behaviour”, he continued.

“Netanyahu and the Haredi parties, what did you think would happen? You turned a blind eye to the cries of ‘We will die rather than enlist.’ What did you think would happen? What did you think would happen when you ignored the violence directed at Haredi soldiers who do enlist?”

In response, Aryeh Deri, leader of the strictly Orthodox Shas party, posted on social media that Bennet was an “inciter and instigator, [who] arrived in the city with the aim of inflaming passions and exploiting this painful situation to gain votes for himself.” He went on to call Bennett a “despicable man, who does not care about anything.”

Bennett responded by saying: “The problem is not Deri, who has gotten used to being the owner of the country, but Netanyahu, who sold it to him.”

Deri himself, along with other strictly orthodox leaders, had strongly condemned the violence in Bnei Brak.

For many years, members of the strictly orthodox community were exempt from the military draft; but in the last few years, anger among the non-Orthodox and religious Zionists has grown at the exemption. The current governing coalition, led by Netanyahu and made up of both charedi and religious Zionist parties, has been attempting to navigate tricky political waters while it advances a charedi draft bill which significant elements of the coalition itself oppose.

While the district police commander of Tel Aviv said that there would be “zero tolerance for disorder”, he criticised the army for not liaising properly with the police before entering the area, saying: “The army must coordinate entry into the city with us. When they enter without coordinating with us, we are left to respond.”

The IDF’s Chief of Staff, Israel Zamir, said he “strongly condemned the attack on IDF Soldiers.

“Any harm to IDF soldiers by civilians is a serious crossing of a red line and the attackers must be dealt with firmly. I expect the law to be fully enforced.”