17 Charged Over Breach at Military Police Chief’s Home in Ashkelon

The State Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment on Monday in Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court against 17 defendants, including four minors, over a riot and trespass at the home of the head of the Military Police, known as the Kamtzar, in Ashkelon. The incident took place about a month and a half ago during a protest against the enlistment of yeshiva students into the IDF.

According to the indictment, filed by attorney Hila Klaper Cohen of the Southern District Prosecutor’s Office, at least dozens of demonstrators from the ultra-Orthodox community gathered near the house in the evening to protest the draft. Inside the home were the officer’s wife and two of their children. The protesters carried signs reading, “War on the enlistment law, with actions and not words!”

After the demonstration began, some of the participants broke through the locked entrance gate and entered the yard. Dozens of protesters, including the defendants, moved into the courtyard, the porch and the front steps, some sitting or standing while holding hands. They sang protest songs, waved signs and shouted insults at the Kamtzar and the IDF, while the family remained trapped inside and could not leave safely. Fearing harm, the family shut the shutters, locked the front door and called police.

Police officers stopped the disturbance and arrested the defendants. The indictment says the gate’s locking mechanism was damaged, parts of the outer wall broke, and the porch tiles and nearby plants were also damaged. Total damage was estimated at thousands of shekels. The defendants were charged with riot, trespass in order to commit an offense, and malicious damage. Klaper Cohen also asked the court to set release conditions to ensure they appear for the rest of the proceedings. Ashkelon police investigated the case.