Hundreds of Gur Hasidim in Ashdod’s Rova H neighborhood welcomed Yechiel Kotiner home on Sunday night with singing and dancing after his release from military prison. Kotiner had served six days after failing to report to the enlistment office.
His arrest sparked an intense protest campaign inside the Gur community, culminating in a historic demonstration last Wednesday led by the Gur Rebbe outside Prison 10. Following the uproar, the group’s organizers worked with the relevant authorities and secured Kotiner a final official medical exemption from military service, which led to his immediate release.
The affair has now produced a new protest initiative as tension continues in Israel over the draft law. According to the report, a social protest plan that began with a few yeshiva students and then gained support from senior figures is gathering momentum. The idea is to hold a “car convoy” on Wednesday between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., driving slowly from several locations around the country toward the military prison and back.
The vehicles are expected to move at minimal speed, with protest signs and music, to project a visible presence and denounce what participants describe as persecution of Torah learners. It is not yet clear which additional Hasidic groups or communities will formally join the plan.
