Yeshiva Students Surround Channel 13 Reporter at Bnei Brak Protest Against Military Arrests

During a large protest in Bnei Brak on Monday evening, dozens of yeshiva students and right-wing activist Mordechai David surrounded Yoeli Barim, the Channel 13 reporter covering the event. The protest took place on Eshel Avraham and Rabbi Rabinov streets and was organized to oppose the arrest and imprisonment of yeshiva students by the military. Participants shouted at Barim, telling him to leave and "go back to Kaplan."

The rally was led by Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, alongside prominent rabbis, yeshiva heads, and community leaders. The demonstration followed a wave of arrests targeting yeshiva students and married Torah scholars (avreichim). Earlier on the same day, senior members of the Council of Torah Sages, including Rabbi Moshe Maya, Rabbi Shlomo Machpud, and Rabbi Nissim Ben Shimon, issued a special call urging people to attend the protest.

The incident with the reporter occurred amid heightened tensions surrounding the military's enforcement actions against the ultra-Orthodox community. The protest highlighted the community's strong opposition to these arrests and the broader conflict between the state and yeshiva students regarding military service obligations.