Hundreds of Haredi rioters try to break into Jerusalem police station, attack cops in Beit Shemesh

Riots on Shabbat Eve, the day of rest, come days after ultra-Orthodox extremists attacked deputy chief justice’s home, held other anti-police protests over arrest of draft-dodgers

6 June 2026, 1:08 am

Edit

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men rioted in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh during protests on Friday night against the arrest of draft dodgers, days after a large group of Haredi men carried out a violent attack on the home of High Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg. The riots came after the start of the Sabbath, when the fourth of the Ten Commandments requires Jews to rest.

Police and Hebrew media reports said rioters repeatedly tried to approach the police station in Jerusalem’s Russian Compound, but were repelled by police.

In the largely Haredi central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, police said rioters threw stones and other objects at officers, who in turn used force to disperse them.

Late Friday night, law enforcement, including a contingent of Border Police troops, was still working to disperse the crowds.

According to the Ynet news site, the crowd tried to break down the gate at the police station while protesting the detention of those arrested over the riot at Sohlberg’s home.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition

by email and never miss our top stories

By signing up, you agree to the terms

The Ynet report said a secular Israeli was also injured and bleeding as a result of the riot. The man, who did not give his name, said he was kicked in the head.

There are frequent Haredi protests and riots over the issue of the military draft, amid arrests of draft evaders and efforts to pass legislation that would enshrine the blanket exemption from conscription long afforded to Haredi men. Israel’s multi-front fighting following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, as well as repeated warnings from the military of an urgent manpower shortage, have made the issue especially charged in recent years.

But it is rare for such a demonstration to take place on a Friday night, the Jewish Sabbath, a day of rest when Jewish law strictly forbids labor.

בירושלים ובבית שמש: עימותים בין שוטרים למאות חרדים שיצאו להפגין על מעצר עריקים | תיעוד@yollancohen pic.twitter.com/bSscywqvQP

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) June 5, 2026

The riots got a rebuke from MK Avigdor Liberman, the leader of the hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu party and a longtime fierce critic of the Haredi draft exemption.

“Even on Shabbat, the draft-dodging rioters prove that they aren’t Jewish, don’t observe mitzvot [Jewish commandments] and have no God,” he wrote on X.

On Wednesday, dozens of Haredim protesting against the military draft 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 and it drew condemnation from across the political spectrum.

The violence at Sohlberg’s house came days after a group of Haredi protesters broke into a police station compound in Beit Shemesh, rioting and clashing with officers, and after members of the radical Jerusalem Faction in April broke into the home of the Military Police chief while his family was inside.

If you’d like to comment, join

The Times of Israel Community.