Rabbi Eliyahu Mali, 60, dean of the Shirat Moshe Hesder Yeshiva in Jaffa, and director of the yeshiva Moshe Shendowitz were violently assaulted in the city on Sunday.
Several right-wing politicians, including Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett, condemned the incident – apparently perpetrated by two Arab residents of Jaffa – as having nationalist motivations, and called on the police to combat such attacks.On Sunday night, about 30 protesters gathered to condemn violence in the city. Police officers arrived at the scene of the protests and began making arrests, Ynet reported.Altercations broke out between Arabs and police forces, with Arabs throwing fireworks at them, and police throwing stun grenades back. Meanwhile, the protesting Jews continued to sing protest songs on the side, KAN reported. N12 added later on that three were arrested, with two officers getting lightly injured.
תקיפת הרב ביפו | עימותים בין מפגינים ערבים לשוטרים. המפגינים היהודים עומדים מנגד ושרים. שוטרים חוצצים ומפרידים ביניהם@daniel_elazar pic.twitter.com/vMb7Jf6rt7
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 18, 2021
The attack in Jaffa follows several assaults against ultra-Orthodox men in Jerusalem by residents of east Jerusalem.
מדינת ישראל היא לא שטעטל בה יוכלו לפגוע ביהודים.האלימות הקשה והבוטה נגד הרב אליהו מאלי, ראש ישיבת ההסדר ביפו, היא חרפה וביזיון לאומי.אנחנו עדים לסדרת התקפות של פורעים ערבים כנגד יהודים שומרי תורה ומצוות באופן מכוון ואנטישמי.
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) April 18, 2021
Police received emergency calls about the incident on Sunday afternoon and began a search for the assailants. A short while later they issued a statement saying two suspects in their 30s had been arrested on suspicion of attacking the rabbi.
יפו לפני שעה קלהערבים תוקפים קשות את הרב אליהו מאליראש ישיבת ההסדר בעיר pic.twitter.com/Myh8hZLqyi
— ינון מגל (@YinonMagal) April 18, 2021
According to a spokesman for the Association of Hesder Yeshivas, Shendowitz was taken to the hospital to evaluate his injuries, while Mali received several blows but was not seriously injured.
The spokesman said that Mali and Shendowitz had been examining an unused building in the neighborhood close to the yeshiva and under Jewish ownership, when the assailants began cursing and then attacking the two men.
According to Ynet, there is a dispute between the yeshiva and local residents over the use of the building.
“When they shout at you because you are wearing a kippa, that you are a settler, and that you should get out of there, it would appear there is another reason” for the attack, Shendowitz told Channel 13.
He said he was kicked and punched, that he did not know the assailants, but that the yeshiva had good relations with the neighborhood residents.
Shirat Moshe Yeshiva said in a statement that staff and students had previously experienced violence from neighborhood residents, but nothing as severe as Sunday’s incident.
“The yeshiva has good relations with the residents of the area, and we have no doubt that the background to this incident was nationalistic because what bothered them was Jews seeking to buy land in the ownership of another Jew,” said the yeshiva in its statement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack on Sunday evening, joining the chorus of political voices denouncing it.
“The State of Israel is not a shtetl in which you can harm Jews,” Bennett tweeted following the assault, describing the attack on Mali as a national disgrace.
“We are witnessing a series of attacks of Arab rioters against observant Jews in a deliberate and antisemitic manner,” said Bennett. “The Israel Police and the law enforcement system must act with a strong hand against such expressions of antisemitism in our state and impose severe punishments for these barbaric crimes.”
על משטרת ישראל ומערכת המשפט לפעול ביד קשה נגד גילויי האנטישמיות והבריונות בתוך המדינה שלנו ולהטיל עונשים כבדים כנגד פשעי הבריונות הללו.
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) April 18, 2021
MK Bezalel Smotrich, chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, tweeted a verse from the Book of Numbers stating that the inhabitants of the Land of Israel will become “stings” and “thorns” for the Israelites if they are not expelled.
וְאִם לֹא תוֹרִישׁוּ אֶת יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ מִפְּנֵיכֶם וְהָיָה אֲשֶׁר תּוֹתִירוּ מֵהֶם לְשִׂכִּים בְּעֵינֵיכֶם וְלִצְנִינִם בְּצִדֵּיכֶם וְצָרֲרוּ אֶתְכֶם עַל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם יֹשְׁבִים בָּהּ. https://t.co/z6fRj6HOah
— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) April 18, 2021
MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, also from the RZP, said the police must “begin to stop attacks on Jews,” and that “against enemies who have chosen terror we must act determinedly, until the terror stops and security returns to the residents of the State of Israel.”
MK Waleed Taha of the Raam Party condemned Ben-Gvir and Smotrich for their remarks, tweeting: “Guess what would have happened if dark and accursed racist antisemites, the scum of the human race, such as Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, had been elected to parliament in a European country or [anywhere else in] the world!!! [They are a] Shame and disgrace to democracy!”
These comments come against the background of severe political opposition by Smotrich and his party to the idea of forming a right-wing government supported externally by Raam, which has indicated a willingness to support such a government.