Seventeen protesters associated with the Eida Hachareidit were arrested this afternoon (Thursday), after protesting opposite the house of Kiryat Gat's Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Havlin. The protesters' ire was raised after Rabbi Havlin, along with other Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis and yeshiva deans, signed an agreement with the IDF, allowing the army to draft most Chabad-Lubavitch yeshiva students.
Those arrested have been sent to the police for investigation and interrogation. The police have explained that while they respect citizens' rights to express their opinions, any disorderly conduct will be harshly dealt with.
Two days ago, the court attorney for the South District Hashalom Court in Ashkelon, wrote an indictment against Shlomo Zalman, Yehuda Leib, and Menachem Mendel, who are members of the hareidi sector and are opposed to the drafting of yeshiva students. These three attacked the chief rabbi of Kiryat Gat, because he supported an agreement between the IDF and Chabad-Lubavitch regarding yeshiva students from that sector.
The three have been accused of crimes connected to criminal activity, illegal gatherings, attack, and other crimes.
According to the indictment, the three traveled via minibus from Beit Shemesh to Kiryat Gat, to the house of the city's chief Ashkenazi rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Havlin, after he permitted the Chabad rabbinical court to sign an agreement with the army regarding the drafting of Chabad yeshiva students.
The three shoved the rabbi, forced their way into his apartment, acted wild and unruly, blew shofars, threw papers into the trash, and yelled to the rabbi that he is, "a thief who is spoiling Israel, an embarrassment to his family [and] to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, selling souls for 600 shekels, driving children crazy, and sending them out to the Inquisition."