An Israeli police officer is being investigated by the police internal affairs unit, known as Mahash, on suspicion of assaulting a Haredi protester at last week's demonstration on Route 4 near the Geha junction, after footage emerged appearing to show the officer kicking the protester in the head.
The incident occurred during the large-scale anti-draft protest on Route 4, one of several demonstrations held in recent weeks against the arrest of yeshiva students who have not complied with military service orders. Officers at the scene fired stun grenades as demonstrators blocked the central highway, and footage of a police officer kicking a protester lying on the asphalt ignited a political storm, with Haredi leaders decrying excessive use of force.
Following the disturbing footage, the Tel Aviv District commander decided to immediately suspend the officer who was filmed kicking the protester. The Israel Police acknowledged the conduct in an official statement issued roughly twelve hours after the confrontations: "After reviewing footage from the protest at the Bnei Brak junction, it was found that commanders and officers acted contrary to procedures. We will not hesitate to deal harshly with this and to suspend officers from operational activity."
The footage that emerged showed not only the kicking incident, but officers forcibly dragging protesters, pulling at their clothing, and in one case an officer stepping on the head of a child who had already been moved to the sidewalk.
The events drew sharp condemnation from Haredi political leadership. Haredi lawmakers accused National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of applying selective enforcement that favored left-wing protesters while brutally suppressing religious demonstrators. Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri issued a pointed challenge: "It's unacceptable that what the police didn't do at Kaplan against anarchists who sought to destroy the state, they now do against citizens whose only crime is studying Torah."
Shas MK Yoav Ben Tzur brought a formal motion to the Knesset plenum this week on "police violence against Haredi protesters," accusing the force of systematic selective enforcement. "The shocking footage reaching us in recent days should keep every citizen in Israel awake at night," Ben Tzur said. "Officers acting with brutal, unrestrained violence, wounding Haredi protesters until they bleed. These difficult images expose a painful truth, that a discriminatory and outrageous policy of selective enforcement has taken root in the Israel Police."
Ben Tzur drew a direct contrast with the treatment of protesters at other demonstrations: "For the Kaplan protesters they bring megaphones and negotiate, while they save the batons, the beatings, and the stun grenades for the Haredi protesters. I ask from the Knesset podium, why? Is the blood of the Haredim less red than that of other citizens?"
The Police Commissioner acknowledged the failures, stating that senior commanders had been present at the demonstration and that he expected them to have controlled events.
The confrontations came amid a broader and intensifying standoff between the Haredi community and state enforcement authorities over the draft. Wednesday's large convoy protest, in which thousands of vehicles drove in slow procession to demonstrate against the detention of Torah students, passed without significant incident after police announced in advance they would permit the demonstration to proceed in an orderly fashion.
Advocacy organizations representing the Haredi community said they were collecting footage and testimony in order to file formal complaints with Mahash against officers who used violence during the protests.
