Gur Rebbe Orders Escalation of Haredi Protests to Exhaust Police

The leadership of the Gur Hasidic dynasty attempted to prevent a protest on Monday near the home of the Israeli government's legal adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara. However, the demonstration was organized independently by a group of yeshiva students acting on behalf of the Gur Rebbe, Yaakov Aryeh Alter. According to Channel 13 news, the Rebbe himself instructed to intensify the protests with the goal of exhausting the police forces.

Thousands of Haredi protesters gathered outside Prison 10 to oppose the continued detention of draft dodgers and the failure to pass legislation regulating military service for yeshiva students. Some protesters later marched to the legal adviser's residence. The rally included the chairman of United Torah Judaism, MK Yitzhak Goldknopf, who warned the crowd, "The situation is collapsing, there will be a disaster here."

The Jerusalem District Police and Border Police reported using crowd control measures to disperse demonstrators who ignored police orders to clear the area. Israel Beytenu party leader MK Avigdor Lieberman condemned the riots, accusing Goldknopf, an ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu, of inciting unrest near Prison 10. Lieberman vowed that in the next government, draft evasion would end and those who do not enlist would receive no state funding.

The protests follow violent clashes last weekend on Highway 4 near Aluf Sadeh Interchange, where extremist Haredim protested the arrest of draft dodgers. Police said rioters threw stones, objects, and bottles at officers, injuring one lightly. Mounted police were deployed to disperse the crowd.