Police Use Stun Grenades at Israeli Yeshiva During Arrest Operation
Police clash with yeshiva students at Grodno Yeshiva after a dispute with construction workers escalates. Officers deployed stun grenades and arrested student Daniel Ben Porat, a military deserter, sparking fears of large-scale Haredi protests as the yeshiva head remains in intensive care.
A dispute between yeshiva students and construction workers escalated into a major police operation at Grodno Yeshiva on Tuesday night, with officers deploying stun grenades inside the yeshiva compound and making arrests that have intensified tensions over the detention of ultra-Orthodox seminary students.
The incident began as a conflict between students and construction workers at an adjacent site, according to witnesses. When police and border police forces arrived, they entered the yeshiva grounds and used stun grenades in the courtyard. Video footage shows multiple police vehicles entering the compound and officers forcibly detaining students.
At the center of the confrontation was the arrest of student Daniel Ben Porat on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. Ben Porat is classified as a military deserter, raising concerns among yeshiva officials that he would be transferred to military police custody, a scenario that threatened to ignite broader protests in the ultra-Orthodox community.
The yeshiva administration worked to prevent escalation, initiating urgent contact with the office of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The incident occurred as Yeshiva head Rabbi Yitzhak Hacker, a member of the Council of Torah Sages, remains in intensive care at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.
Rabbi Yisrael Shalom Iram, a supervisor at the yeshiva, arrived from Ashdod late at night and gathered hundreds of students in the dining hall, helping to defuse the situation.
The police statement said officers responded to reports of disorder and clashes on Jabotinsky Street after inspectors blocked the road for infrastructure work. "Stones and objects were thrown at the forces, and two officers were lightly injured. Damage was also caused to a police vehicle," the statement said. Police said they used crowd-dispersal measures and arrested one suspect for resisting arrest, while detaining another on suspicion of making threats. "Following discussions with the yeshiva rabbi who was summoned to the scene, control was achieved and the incident ended," police added.
The incident follows recent arrests of yeshiva students, a subject of growing political sensitivity. Shas party officials said students were being arrested "for the offense of Torah study" in the Jewish state. Rabbi David Lando recently criticized such arrests sharply.