False Arrest Alert Sparks Nighttime Riots in Ashdod

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox men rushed out in the middle of the night after an alert said a yeshiva student draft evader had been arrested, but by morning it emerged the detainees were actually secular youths who had not enlisted in the army. The false report triggered the “Black Color” system, which is used to mobilize large crowds when yeshiva students are arrested for draft evasion.

After the alert, hundreds of yeshiva students and ultra-Orthodox residents quickly gathered at a police checkpoint set up at the entrance to Ashdod. Severe clashes and public disorder followed, lasting for a long time as police tried to control the scene. The site “Charedim Ashdod” reported that the arrests had nothing to do with the yeshiva world or the ultra-Orthodox community.

According to the report, police had stopped the young men during a routine license check at the checkpoint. Officers then discovered they were draft evaders and summoned the military police to take over the case. Investigators are now focusing on the possibility that outside actors deliberately fed the system false information claiming the detainees were “yeshiva boys,” in order to provoke a rapid mobilization and the unrest that followed.

A senior police official said the incident was serious and caused unnecessary riots because the information was inaccurate. He told “Charedim Ashdod,” “There is a need to examine how the report was passed on and why no preliminary check was done before it was spread to the public.” The case has also raised questions in Ashdod about the verification procedures behind “Black Color,” especially in a city where police and ultra-Orthodox community representatives normally maintain close cooperation.