Police Use of Stun Grenades Sparks Outcry at Highway 4 Protest Near Bnei Brak

Police used what witnesses and footage described as unusually harsh force on Wednesday morning while dispersing a protest by the "ratzpanik" faction of the Jerusalem Faction on Highway 4 near Bnei Brak. Videos from the scene showed bleeding demonstrators, some with torn pants, after officers threw stun grenades and swung batons to clear the roadblock.

Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri sharply criticized National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and urged him to act immediately. "Itamar Ben Gvir, wake up!" Deri said, adding that police had done to Torah students what they had not done at Kaplan against "anarchists" who, in his words, tried to destroy the country. He said that although he opposes protests, he could not stand by in the face of "this injustice and this terrible violence," and called on Ben Gvir to stop the police violence against "Bnei Torah."

MK Meir Porush, head of the Shlomi Emunim faction, also condemned the police response, saying it was not behavior expected in a state ruled by Jews or in a democracy. He compared the violent dispersal to what is seen in Turkey and Iran, and said the police commissioner, along with any officer or commander involved, should resign immediately.

People close to Ben Gvir said the Supreme Court has barred him from speaking about police use of force in protests, but argued that batons and stun grenades against people blocking a road were not reasonable even for opponents of the demonstrations. They added that if police do not "come to their senses," he will end the use of stun grenades in the force. Ben Gvir later posted on X that there have recently been more cases of stun grenades being used against civilians outside procedure, and said he would hold an urgent discussion to ensure they are used only in exceptional cases and according to police rules. "If the use is not limited to those cases, there will be no stun grenades in the police," he wrote.