Overview
- Organizers from the Peleg Yerushalmi movement launched emergency demonstrations after authorities moved to hand 19 yeshiva students arrested near Justice Noam Sohlberg’s home to the military police, an action that protesters say treats Torah study as a crime.
- The protests grew broader when the Eidah Hachareidis ordered all its kollelim closed and called on members to gather at prison gates in what it described as a fight with mesirus nefesh to stop transfers to military detention.
- Movement hotlines circulated strict guidance telling protesters not to enter or block rail tracks and advising against sharing footage, as leaders sought to limit dangerous tactics and preserve public support.
- Police deployed reinforced units, Border Police, riot squads and mounted officers and said they used crowd‑control measures including stun grenades to clear roads and protect prisoner transport during clashes at sites such as the Russian Compound and Nitzan Prison.
- This escalation grows out of a decades‑long dispute over ultra‑Orthodox conscription and could trigger wider transport disruptions and legal‑political pressure on authorities if the transfers proceed or protests intensify.