Ultra-Orthodox Protest Erupts on Highway 4, Police Use Grenades
Translated & summarized from Vesty by baba
Dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked Highway 4 and railway lines near Petah Tikva on October 29 after the arrest of a draft dodger, Alon Smaji. Police dispersed the illegal demonstration using stun grenades. The protesters, followers of Rabbi Zvi Friedman, held signs denouncing secularism and the state. Smaji was arrested after being lured from his home by military police for evading IDF conscription.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked Highway 4 and railway lines near Petah Tikva on Oct. 29.
- Police used stun grenades to disperse the illegal demonstration.
- The protest followed the arrest of draft dodger Alon Smaji.
- Protesters held signs denouncing secularism and calling Israel antisemitic.
- Many demonstrators were followers of radical Rabbi Zvi Friedman.
Dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked the Gea junction and railway lines near Petah Tikva on Thursday, October 29, following the arrest of a draft dodger. Police declared the demonstration illegal and forcibly removed participants, employing stun grenades against the crowd. The protesters, many of them students of Rabbi Zvi Friedman's radical "Jerusalem Faction," sat on the road, clashed with officers, and held signs with slogans such as "Better to die Haredi than live secular," "We will die, but not be drafted," and "Israel is an antisemitic country."
The protest was sparked by the arrest of Alon Smaji, a Jerusalem resident who had evaded mandatory IDF conscription. Military police reportedly lured Smaji out of his home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Vagan by asking him to collect a package. He was subsequently arrested and taken to Military Prison No. 10 in Beit Lid.
Earlier on Thursday, police had closed northbound traffic on Highway 4 near the Aluf Sadeh interchange in anticipation of the ultra-Orthodox protest. The demonstrators then proceeded to block the Gea junction on Highway 4 and later, the railway lines in the Petah Tikva area.
Rabbi Friedman, associated with the radical "Jerusalem Faction," had previously urged his followers to abstain from voting in Knesset elections to maintain their "non-involvement in the state's actions."
