Gafni Orders Complete Police Boycott: "We Will Not Be Partners in Harming Torah"
Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni has ordered the movement's representatives in local authorities across Israel to immediately cease all cooperation with police, the most dramatic escalation yet in the Haredi draft crisis.
In the most dramatic escalation of the Haredi draft crisis yet, Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni has issued an extraordinary directive ordering the movement's representatives in local authorities nationwide to immediately cease all cooperation with Israeli police, including municipal policing units.
The letter, sent Wednesday afternoon to Degel HaTorah representatives across the country, was blunt and unambiguous: halt all cooperation with Israeli police "until further notice."
"So that we should not, God forbid, be partners in harming the holy Torah and those who study it," Gafni wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Kikar HaShabbat.
What Triggered the Boycott
The directive comes directly in response to the new policy implemented by Police Commissioner Dani Levy, under which civilian police are transferring yeshiva students they encounter to military police. Overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, at least three yeshiva students were handed over to military authorities after being stopped by Israeli police, including Reuven Lamnatzach of the Givat Ze'ev Yeshiva, detained on Route 1 and transferred following a stop at the Beit Shemesh police station.
Gafni added his own sharp criticism: "The hatred toward the Haredi community is causing them to lose their minds and is harming the working and vulnerable public as well."
Knesset Floor Also Erupts
The tension spilled into the Knesset plenum, where United Torah Judaism turned its fire on Religious Zionism over the daycare law vote. Degel HaTorah faction chairman MK Uri Maklev declared: "The difficulty Likud had in mustering a majority for the most elementary and humane matter, daycare for innocent infants, proves there is no real bloc."
MK Yoav Ben Tzur addressed the plenum directly: "Who exactly are you arresting? Fine young men who have never encountered police in their lives, because they are law-abiding citizens. Haredi society and leadership respects IDF soldiers."
Police Stand by Their Version
Israeli police pushed back, reiterating that the student whose arrest sparked the overnight riots was stopped after driving recklessly on Route 60, zigzagging between lanes and posing a genuine danger to other road users. A check revealed he was a military draft absentee, triggering the transfer to military authorities.
Police added that following the arrest, dozens of rioters descended on the Benjamin station and launched violent disturbances, overturning a police trailer, burning cardboard, and bending fences, requiring YASAM special forces and Border Police to disperse them.
An Unprecedented Rupture
Observers across the Israeli political and security establishment are noting that Gafni's police boycott order is without precedent in the relationship between the Haredi community and Israeli law enforcement, and reflects the true depth of the current crisis, which is now reshaping coalitional politics, street protests, and institutional relationships simultaneously.
The situation continues to develop rapidly. Further escalation from both sides is expected.