Dozens of activists from the "Mothers at the Front" movement descended on Kahaneman Street in Bnei Brak Friday afternoon, attempting to disrupt traffic in the Haredi city in the hours before Shabbos, in what organizers framed as direct retaliation for this week's mass Haredi vehicle convoy protests that blocked roads across Israel.
Despite advance declarations of a major blockade, only a small number of protesters ultimately arrived at the scene. The action nonetheless sparked tense confrontations with Bnei Brak residents, many of whom were in the midst of last-minute Shabbos preparations when the demonstration began.
Residents gathered to push back against the protesters, with some shouting "we'll die before we enlist." Shoving broke out between the two groups during the confrontation, while police officers on the scene worked to separate the factions.
The demonstration was explicitly framed as a reciprocal provocation. Attorney Ayelet Hashachar Saidoff, who heads the "Mothers at the Front" movement, had declared in an interview that "blockades will be met with blockades," vowing to disrupt daily life in Bnei Brak as a response to the Haredi community's road-blocking protests against the draft. The choice to stage the demonstration specifically on Friday afternoon, when Bnei Brak's streets fill with families making Shabbat preparations, drew particular outrage from residents.
