Security forces, including police special-unit officers, carried out overnight arrests of several young Haredi men on suspicion of involvement in security-related offenses. The arrests were conducted simultaneously at several locations.
In Elad, special forces raided the home of a young Haredi man and arrested him in front of his family. Eyewitnesses at the scene reported that demonstrators initially gathered, believing it was a Military Police raid to detain draft evaders.
At the same time, in Modi’in Illit, a young kollel student was arrested just about a month after his wedding. Another arrest was made during the night at a stopping point on Highway 6, where a yeshiva student was detained by forces who had been waiting for him at the site.
The background to the arrests became partially clearer following a police statement. According to the statement, at the request of investigators from the Central Unit of the Judea and Samaria District (criminal investigations), the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court granted a sweeping gag order on the details of the case. The limited information permitted for publication indicates that the case involves serious suspicions of contact with a foreign agent.
The gag order, imposed at the police’s request, is particularly broad and applies to all details of the investigation as well as any information that could identify the detained suspects. The order remains in effect until further decision by the court.
The suspects were transferred for questioning by security authorities.