Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) anti-IDF draft activists from the Jerusalem Faction (Peleg Yerushalmi) temporarily blocked Highway 4 near Bnei Brak on Wednesday morning.
Police officers successfully dispersed the protesters by approximately 10 a.m., after they had blocked the highway in both directions, Israel Police confirmed.
Drivers of vehicles blocked by the protest exited their vehicles and confronted protesters, video footage from the scene seen by The Jerusalem Post appeared to show.
Five demonstrators have been arrested, and two were lightly injured and evacuated to Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva.
A police commander declared the demonstrations illegal before the dispersal measures were implemented, according to Israel Police.
“The Israel Police views the right to protest as a cornerstone of a democratic state and permits protests as long as they are held within the framework of the law. At the same time, the police will not allow riots of any kind, disruptions to freedom of movement, or any behavior that may endanger public safety,” the statement added.
A senior official in the Jerusalem Faction told Walla, “We will not remain silent over the violence we absorbed this morning. This will have severe consequences. We will shut down the country, and anyone who thinks they have seen it all is in for surprises. The struggle is only at its beginning, and our next steps will be far more significant.”
Deri: ‘Ben-Gvir, wake up!’ calls police violence unacceptable
Shas Chairman Arye Deri responded to police violence at the protest, saying, “[National Security Minister] Itamar Ben-Gvir, wake up! It is unacceptable that what the police did not do in Kaplan against anarchists who sought to destroy the country, they are doing right now against citizens crying out that they have been turned into criminals just because they study Torah.”
“You know that we oppose demonstrations, but we cannot stand idly by in the face of this injustice and severe violence. You have proven that when something matters to you, you know how to operate the police. Stand up now and stop the police violence against the Torah students,” Deri added.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid took the opportunity to attack the incumbent government in a response to Deri’s statement, saying, “Arye Deri sits in the cabinet and sends our children to fight and die for the country – and then he walks outside and sends his own children to block roads against drafting into the IDF.
“All of this is happening with the consent of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich, and Ben-Gvir. This moral stain will never be washed away from this government. We will return, draft everyone, and bring order to the streets of Israel.”