Shas MK Yoni Mשריקי on Wednesday launched a harsh attack in the Knesset plenum against what he called a campaign of arrests targeting Torah students, yeshiva students and married scholars. The chairman of the Health Committee said the move had turned Torah study into a criminal offense and drew loud reactions during the debate.
“How can Torah study in the State of Israel be made a criminal act, and the young man who sits all day over the Gemara be made an enemy of the state?” Mשריקי said. He added, “A Jewish state that sends Torah learners to prison should ask itself, when did we lose our shame?”
He argued that Israel can remain a Jewish state only if it recognizes that “without Torah, we have no root,” adding, “And without a root, even the strongest tree falls.” Mשריקי said his message was clear: “Free the sons of Torah. Stop the persecution against them.”
Mשריקי also aimed his criticism at the attorney general and the Supreme Court, accusing them of not only arrests and humiliation of Torah students but also of harming children and denying families a legitimate right to housing. He said this deepens divisions in Israeli society and damages the country’s Jewish identity.
