Supreme Court president: Haredi rampage at justice’s home was attack on rule of law

Chief Justice Isaac Amit on Thursday denounced the attack on Deputy Chief Justice Noam Sohlberg’s home by ultra-Orthodox rioters the night before, calling it an assault on the entire legal system and the rule of law.

Dozens of draft protesters gathered at Sohlberg’s home in the Alon Shvut settlement and shattered windows, broke flowerpots by the front door of the house, smashed the windshield of a car in the garage, and displayed a small Israeli flag with a swastika in place of the Star of David. Police arrested 62 people in connection with the incident.

In a letter to judges and other court employees, Amit extended his support to Sohlberg, who was at home with his wife, children and grandchildren during the assault, and said that efforts to intimidate judges will not work.

“The serious acts of violence directed at the deputy president [of the court] and his family are, in effect, an attack on the entire judicial system and on the rule of law in the State of Israel,” wrote Amit, together with Judge Tzahi Ouziel, director of the Court’s Office.

“Attempts to exert pressure on, intimidate, or deter judges will not affect the performance of their duties. Israel’s judges will continue to carry out their work professionally, independently, and without fear, in accordance with the law and their duty to the public,” Amit and Ouziel wrote.

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They added that the judicial authority will take any action necessary to protect judges and other court staff.

The Haredi demonstrators, who were protesting efforts to draft members of the community into the army, tried to flee the scene on a bus but were stopped by police.

The 62 suspects were to be brought before a judge for a hearing on the extension of their detention later Thursday.

Police seized GoPro cameras and drones that the rioters had with them.

A police spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Mirit Ben Mior, told Ynet that the incident, along with an attack on a senior police officer who was the mother of fallen soldier during an anti-draft riot earlier this week, represents “a regrettable increase in violent behavior on the street.”

Ben Mior indicated that police would seek to have the suspects kept in detention rather than released with restrictions, saying the incident was “crossing a line,” due in part to the scale of organization involved.

“They arrived organized, they arrived with equipment that was intended to be used for vandalism,” she said.

Ben Mior said police were able to take control of the situation within eight minutes of being alerted to the incident, but by then, damage was already done.

She added that the bus driver was among those arrested and that police were looking into how much he knew of what was to take place.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, those arrested are suspected of rioting in a public space, disturbing the peace, damage to property, deliberately damaging a vehicle, and throwing objects.

A police source said that most of the detainees were not cooperating with investigators and were trying to obstruct the investigation.

Some hid their identification cards, switched them, or gave details of other suspects rather than their own, according to the source.

במחאה על חוק הגיוס: מפגינים חרדים הגיעו לביתו של שופט העליון סולברג pic.twitter.com/SaggruWSci

— לירן תמרי | Liran Tamari (@liran__tamari) June 3, 2026

Beni Gesundheit, Sohlberg’s neighbor, recounted being spat on and shouted at by the anti-draft rioters.

“I heard a terrible noise. My wife and my daughter ran to the safe room,” he told Army Radio, referring to the bombproof part of his home.

“I told [the rioters], ‘Go away’! [This is a] chilul Hashem!” he continued, using a Hebrew term for unbecoming behavior that Jewish tradition deems a desecration of the name of God.

“There were youths who spat in my face, and two of them shouted at me: ‘Hitler, run away!’ I managed to chase away at least some of them,” he said.

The attack on Sohlberg’s home was widely condemned, including by President Isaac Herzog and by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition is working to advance legislation to exempt Haredi men from military service.

United Torah Judaism faction leader Yitzhak Goldknopf said in a statement that “there is no place for violence in our camp,” while also expressing “full support for the Torah students whose honor and standing have been trampled under the feet of the current government and are expressing their pain.”

The Degel Hatorah faction within UTJ and the allied ultra-Orthodox Shas party put out a joint statement saying they “condemn any act of violence, violence is contrary to the path of Torah and is completely unacceptable.”

But they also said, “We are pained and shocked by the ongoing persecution and trampling of Torah scholars by Supreme Court justices.”

Speaking to Kan News, former Supreme Court president Dorit Beinisch said the attack on Sohlberg’s home was another stage in the decline of Israel’s democracy and the rise of violent lawlessness.

“This is a severe deterioration of democratic rule. This is the transformation of Israel into a state in which violence, thuggery, and the abolition of the principles of the rule of law are part of the norms of our lives,” said Beinisch.

The retired Supreme Court president blamed the top political leadership for the deterioration in adherence to the rule of law, pointing as one example to a comment by Justice Minister Yariv Levin earlier this week indicating that he would not abide by a High Court ruling.

“We should not be surprised [by such events], when a government minister can announce that a ruling of the High Court of Justice is illegal and that he will not comply with it,” said Beinisch. “Because if there is no need to obey the judiciary, the law, then anything is permitted — lawlessness. This is the atmosphere we are living in, and it endangers everyone.”