Riots broke out between protesters and police as hundreds of haredim gathered outside the recruitment offices in Kiryat Ono Monday morning to demonstrate against the draft orders from IDF to a thousand new recruits, who were scheduled to report to service Monday.
Demonstrators called police “murderers,” “Hitlers,” and “Nazis,” Ynet reported.
Rioters intended to break into the military conscription office, Israel Police said in a statement after the demonstrators were cleared. According to the police, protesters threw objects, repeatedly attempted to break through barriers, spat at officers, and lay under trucks.
Demonstrators threw horse manure at journalists Merav Saber from Israel Hayom and Rotem Golan from the Knesset Channel, Maariv reported, and demonstrators called a Ynet reporter "Amalek," Ynet reported.
“The reception that awaited me at the recruitment office: Water bottles thrown at my body, shouts of ‘Shiksa, you have no right to speak,’ ‘Get out of here,’ ‘Die,’ ‘You are not allowed to be here.’ Dozens of guys violently attacking one girl. Shame and disgrace,” Israel Hayom reporter Saber reported on X.
קבלת הפנים שחיכתה לי בלשכת הגיוס: זריקת בקבוקי מיים על הגוף שלי, קריאות "שיקצע אין לך זכות דיבור". "תעופי מפה" "תמותי" "אסור לך להיות פה" עשרות בחורים עטים על בחורה אחת באלימות.בושה וחרפה pic.twitter.com/qm1jYZyxl2
— Merav Sever (@meravseve) August 5, 2024
The demonstration was declared illegal
The Dan District Deputy Commander proclaimed the demonstrations illegal before any dispersion tactics were used. However, the demonstrators continued to attempt to break into the recruitment offices, Israel Police stated.
Police deployed officers on horseback to disperse the protesters and destroyed a tent that displayed a sign stating, "Do not enlist."
The IDF sent draft orders to young haredim whose enlistment in the army would be least likely to stir controversy among the community since they tried to recruit those who do not spend most of their day studying in yeshiva, Ynet reported. Many senior rabbis have told those recruited not to enlist, regardless.
About 450 young Haredi men were summoned to the recruitment office on Monday, and another 450 are scheduled to report for service on Tuesday.
At the end of the first recruitment day for haredim, only 8% of recruits showed up to serve at the recruitment offices, Maariv reported.
Israel Police announced that it arrested 10 protesters