Haredi youths attacked Shas MK Yoav Ben Tzur, who is also haredi, on Saturday evening in Jerusalem, following efforts to advance a law for drafting yeshiva students into the IDF.
Ben Tzur’s office they said that he underwent a “lynch attempt,” and eyewitnesses claimed that he “was beaten.” His car windows were smashed, and the police arrived at the scene.
The Shas movement responded that it “strongly condemns the serious attack on the vehicle of MK Yoav Ben Tzur that was carried out this evening in Jerusalem by a small group of rioters.”
“Acts of violence of this sort, which cause a desecration of God’s name, are not the way of the Torah and do not represent any God-fearing public.”
Yisrael Beytenu party chairman MK Avigdor Liberman slammed the attack, saying: “When you accustom a person to idleness and draft-dodging-he becomes violent when you try to take the idleness away from him.”
Liberman added: “The attack by dozens of haredim on MK Ben Tzur of Shas is yet another example of why we must bring everyone into line immediately. All citizens of the State are subject to one, single, uniform, legal system. Zero tolerance for lawbreakers -from draft-dodgers and refusers to the crime militias and protection rackets. Very soon, we will bring order here!”
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Boaz Bismuth, condemned the incident and defined it as “a severe crossing of a line and a blatant attempt to intimidate elected officials.”
He further noted that sensitive issues like the draft will be discussed “in the appropriate place, in serious dialogue, with proper judgment and through democratic decisions. Not in the street and not under threats by extremists.”