Kfar Yona is bracing for another major disruption over the Haredi protest campaign against the arrest of draft dodgers, after last week’s mass demonstration near Prison 10 effectively paralyzed the town. With another protest planned for Wednesday, Mayor Albert Tayeb said residents and the municipality would not allow a repeat and threatened to physically block access to the neighborhood.
According to ynet, Tayeb said, "This time we will block the entrance to the neighborhood. We are law-abiding, but this is a significant event that we will not go through again. Kfar Yona will not be besieged again, and if they are planning something like that, we will simply block the entrance to the neighborhood." He also said, "An event like the one that happened will not repeat itself. I will not close Kfar Yona’s education system again at 2:00 p.m. Someone here has gone mad."
The municipality says the concern centers on convoys of cars expected to leave from various locations across the country at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday and head slowly toward Prison 10 until 8:00 p.m., deliberately worsening traffic. Police have been informed. Residents fear massive congestion and prolonged road closures, especially because access to the military prison runs close to residential neighborhoods. Even this morning, protesters again arrived near the prison entrance, deepening fears of another disruption.
Last week’s protest forced the city to shorten the school day, cancel activities and birthday parties, and deal with severe traffic paralysis. Neighborhood committee head Miki Gerbi said residents are preparing to block the neighborhood themselves if the convoy sets off, saying, "It is unbelievable that every day they come and protest here. They have taken over our neighborhood, the protest last week was crazy. We are going to block the neighborhood with cars driving slowly on our behalf." The protests are tied to the continued detention of young ultra-Orthodox men held as draft evaders, and last week thousands demonstrated outside Prison 10, including the Gur Rebbe. According to Kan 11, the prison entrance was blocked that day and IDF forces were rushed to the scene.
