Yerushalmi Faction demonstration in Bnei Brak
Yerushalmi Faction demonstration in Bnei BrakPolice spokesperson

Roughly 200 demonstrators gathered in Bnei Brak Sunday evening to protest outside of the home of haredi man involved in the recruitment of religious young men to the IDF.

Protesters slammed the recruitment officer, holding up signs lambasting him as a “Hunter of Souls”.

The demonstration was organized by the Yerushalmi Faction, a fringe haredi group opposed not only to the draft but to the system of deferments provided by the army to full-time yeshiva students.

Led by Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, the Yerushalmi Faction has called on followers to deny the army’s authority to draft them, to refuse to request deferments, and to instead allow themselves to be arrested as a form of protest.

The protest coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day, during which a state ceremony remembering the Six Million was held in the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.

Police arrived shortly after the protest began and ensured that no disruptions took place.