A tense protest outside Military Prison 10 near Beit Lid turned into an outpouring of joy on Thursday night after organizers received word that yeshiva student Aviel Cohen of Netivot would be released. Hundreds of yeshiva students and scholars from the Be'er HaTalmud institutions had gathered there to denounce his arrest, which they said was for studying Torah.
The rally opened with a fiery address by Rabbi Yehuda Cohen, the yeshiva head and a member of the Council of Torah Sages, who demanded his student's immediate release. The crowd prayed intensely as the atmosphere outside the prison remained charged, and Knesset members Michael Malkieli and Yoni Mishriki also took part in the protest, which was identified with the Shas movement.
The breakthrough came during the prayer service, after what the article described as intensive legal efforts by the legal department of the organization With a Holy People. The decision was to free Cohen before the coming Sabbath, and the announcement quickly replaced the tension with singing, dancing, and thanksgiving. The crowd chanted "Baruch Matir Asurim," expressing relief that he would return home to spend Shabbat with his family.
The organization said it welcomed Cohen with the blessing "Baruch Matir Asurim" and vowed to continue supporting every yeshiva student and scholar until a permanent solution is found for the crisis facing the world of Torah. Cohen had been arrested earlier in the week at the Gilat Junction in southern Israel on suspicion of draft evasion and failure to report to the recruitment office, while riding with his wife in a gas station area. The protest came amid a broader wave of arrests of yeshiva students in recent weeks, including another case mentioned in the article, that of a married father of four detained over a broken car headlight.
