Shas leader Aryeh Deri sharply attacked National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Wednesday, amid clashes between police and protesters from the Jerusalem Faction who blocked Highway 4 in protest of the arrest of a draft dodger. Deri accused police of violence and called on Ben Gvir to halt their actions against the demonstrators.
“Wake up, Itamar Ben Gvir,” Deri said. “It is inconceivable that what the police did not do in Kaplan against anarchists who wanted to destroy the country, they are now doing against citizens who are crying out that they have been turned into criminals only because they study Torah.”
Deri added that although Shas opposes protests, it cannot remain silent in the face of “this injustice and severe violence.” He told Ben Gvir, “You have proven that when it matters to you, you know how to deploy the police. Come now and stop the police violence against Torah scholars.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded that “the moral stain will never be erased,” saying Deri sits in the cabinet and sends “our children” to fight and die for the state, while his own children block roads against IDF enlistment. Lapid said this happens with the consent of Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich and Ben Gvir, and vowed, “We will return, enlist everyone and restore order to the streets of Israel.”
