After a particularly tense day of clashes between hareidi-religious protestors and police in Jerusalem, Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovich proposed an innovative step: hareidi-religious volunteers in the police force. Aharonovich said progress had been made in talks aimed at creating an enlistment track for hareidi police officers, but would not give further details.
The plan was revealed Wednesday at a special Knesset session dedicated to Israel's struggle with crime and violence. Thirty of the Knesset's 120 members attended the meeting.
Aharonovich told those present that hareidi-religious men would be invited to serve in the police force as a form of national service. Performing national service would allow them to avoid military service without remaining in yeshiva for several years – currently the only legal way for healthy Israeli men to avoid serving in the IDF. Those who choose to study in yeshiva instead of joining the army are not allowed to study for a degree or to seek employment.
The public security minister may be hoping that hareidi-religious officers will soothe the increasingly tense relations between Israel's police and the hareidi community.
Tensions High in J'lem as Protestors Wounded
Tensions have been particularly high in Jerusalem, where hareidi demonstrators repeatedly clashed with police over the past several weeks during protests against the opening of the Karta parking lot on the Sabbath. In addition, violent demonstrations broke out in the hareidi-religious neighborhood of Meah Shearim after police arrested a woman suspected of child abuse; many members of the woman's community are convinced that she was framed.
In the past week, two hareidi men were run over during two separate protests, one against the opening of the Karta lot and the other against the decision to perform an autopsy on a hareidi stabbing victim. Both men remain hospitalized, one in serious condition.
Jerusalem poster exclaims "murderers!" and decries "second attempted murder by commanders of Zionist gestapo." Photo: Yehuda Boltshauser / Topshot Images
In one case, protestors claimed that police had encouraged an Arab driver to run over a demonstrator, while in the other, the demonstrator was hit by a police vehicle while attempting to block its path. Hareidi-religious spokesmen accused police of acting callously towards hareidi protestors, and of failing to investigate incidents in which protestors were seriously wounded.
Police have accused the Meah Shearim protesters of serious violence as well, and say protesters stoned both a police vehicle and an Arab-owned taxi, causing damage and endangering the drivers.
The demonstrations are backed by some factions of the Eda Hareidit, a coalition that represents several of the sects within Israel's hareidi-religious population. The group has traditionally been led by members of the anti-Zionist Satmar hassidic movement.
Gafni to Aharonovich: This is Your Fault
MK Moshe Gafni of the hareidi-religious United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party criticized Aharonovich for the continuing violence. “You aren't just another police officer, you're the Minister of Public Security, that's what you were elected to do. Tell me, how many times have you consulted with representatives of the hareidi community? I blame you for what's happening here.”
Gafni clarified that he does not believe hareidi-religious demonstrators are justified in using violence. “We are against violent protests,” he said of his party.