Israeli editor under fire after calling to assault ultra-Orthodox protesters

A public uproar erupted after Hagi Huberman, editor of the religious-nationalist weekly pamphlet Matzav HaRuach, wrote in a journalists’ group message: “Crush every religious person, destroy every ultra-Orthodox.” The message appeared to be aimed at protests by the Jerusalem Faction and the roadblocks they set up. One shocked journalist replied, “What did you write here??”

Huberman did not retract the remarks. Instead, he argued that the road closures were “violence in every sense” and said the public response to anti-draft road blockaders should be physical violence. He wrote that the proper response was “to break their bones, preferably with clubs.” He also said he opposed the “Kaplanists” who blocked roads, but described them as “enemies of the government, not enemies of the state,” adding, “In the end we will be in the same tank or APC on the day of orders.”

His harshest language was reserved for ultra-Orthodox protesters against military conscription. Huberman said the ultra-Orthodox who oppose enlistment “are enemies of the state,” that he has “nothing in common” with them, and that “our Judaism is not the same Judaism.” The police have opened a review into the incident, while the ultra-Orthodox community reacted with shock and demanded an immediate investigation.

The controversy comes against the backdrop of Huberman’s previous inflammatory statements. In June 2022, he sent a message to then-minister Idit Silman that she later published, calling it blackmail and threats. He also wrote in 2013 that he would not shed a tear if major yeshivas, including Ponevezh, Mir, Slabodka and Hebron, met the fate of the Chachmei Lublin yeshiva in Poland, a reference to destruction in the Holocaust. In 2015, he attacked Michal Kasten-Kidar, the widow of Lt. Col. Dolev Kidar, after she attended a left-wing rally. Huberman has not yet commented on the latest publication.