Haredim Riot Across The Country, At Least 24 Arrested

Haredim reportedly demonstrated and rioted across the country today against the arrest of a draft-dodging haredi yeshiva and against a High Court of Justice ruling compelling the state to cut funding to haredi yeshivas who harbor draft dodgers.

File photo: haredim stone police in Mea Shearim, July 2011

Last updated 12:05 pm CST

Haredim Riot Across The Country, At Least 24 Arrested
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Haredim demonstrated and rioted across the country today against the arrest of a draft-dodging haredi yeshiva student; against a High Court of Justice ruling compelling the state to cut funding to haredi yeshivas who harbor draft dodgers; and against Finance Minister Yair Lapid's decision to halt funding to all haredi yeshivas across the board, not just for the specific yeshiva students who dodged the draft, in light of the High Court's ruling, Ynet and the Jerusalem Post reported.

• In Jerusalem, haredim tried to block the entrance to the city located at the Bridge of Strings. Police used water cannon to try to disperse them. Twelve haredi protesters were arrested and the entrance to the city was temporarily closed.

• 2,000 haredim demonstrated at the Coca Cola junction on Highway 4 near Bnei Brak, blocking traffic. Police asked the public to use alternative routes and stay out of the area.

• In Ashdod, twelve haredi protesters were arrested for disturbing the public order and assaulting police. Police reportedly said two of their officers were lightly injured.

The protests were reportedly organized by the non-hasidic Ashkenazi haredi rebel faction headed by Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach and by groups linked to the vehemently anti-Zionist Edah Haredit haredi umbrella organization made up largely of hasidic groups.

Lapid reportedly ordered all funding for haredi yeshivas frozen pending the sifting out of draft dodgers in order to comply with the High Court's ruling.

But when he found out the funding had already been transferred to the Education Ministry for this month’s haredi yeshiva allocations, he successfully ordered those funds blocked – meaning haredi yeshiva funding has been immediately cut off.

The Education Ministry and the Finance Ministry will now sift out the 18- to 20-year-old haredi yeshiva students who were illegally exempted from the draft by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud), sparking the High Court's ruling. When that is completed, the remaining haredi yeshiva students will be paid.

Haredim had thought that becuase the funding was already transferred to the Education Ministry, their February funding would remain intact. They also thought that becuase the bill will be brought to a vote in March, March funding would also be released.

When they realized that was wrong, they took to the streets and began to riot.

Comments

[Alter Kocker]

Water cannons then rubber bullets then shields and batons. Send a bunch to the hospital THEN send a few to the morgue. Let the fu**ing bastards know that there are laws in the country and they can't get their way by rioting. Just like bad little children, they need to be spanked.

[jancsibacsi]

Theese mindless automatons dont know how good they have it they were spoiled rotten ,they need to be shocked back into reality before they get tottaly out of hand,it is a shame that this is going on in israel.

[S M L]

Load the water cannon with soapsuds and watch 'em disperse. How ineffectual the police must have been not to have been successful dispersing a crowd of bochurim with all their arsenal of equipment. The water cannon will knock a man down. What'd they do- have them on low power?

[put a square into a hole]

NO JUSTICE NO PEACE..

[Robert J. Barron, Attorney-at-Law]

Hopefully, this is one sign of the beginning of the end of that lifestyle.

[jancsibacsi]

put a square into a hole---Youre justice is a perversion maybee you should go to work and then realize whatreality is,theese sutends are slaves for youre rebbes, the rebbes who self agrandize themselfs with being worshipe by young impresionable students whos life was hijacked by youre leaders,in todays world you have to learn a trade not just sit on youre behinf ruminating of some made up nonsense

[David]

I hope no trash dumpsters were burned. Unlike Charedim, they have an important function to perform.

[Reese]

Where was all this passion against the Germans, Poles, Ukranians, Latvians, Hungarians, Romanians, Lithuanians, and all of the other European nazis, who raped, tortured , and slaughtered their mothers?