Police Superintendent Elad Klein, the commander of the Dan District, said that the police acted with disproportionate force in order to quickly contain the violence that broke out after poor coordination with the IDF.
Following the riots in Bnei Brak, a dispute erupted between the police and the military over whether the soldiers’ arrival in the city—as part of outreach toward potential recruits—had been properly coordinated. The IDF claimed that the soldiers did not enter Bnei Brak for draft-related reasons and were merely making a home visit. However, the police insist that the soldiers distributed informational draft pamphlets to multiple addresses in extremist neighborhoods and that they should have been notified by the IDF beforehand to prepare for protests.
Speaking to Kan News, Klein described events from the police perspective: “When you receive an incident like this with no prior update and it jumps from zero to one hundred, you first deploy whatever forces you have available on the ground.”
He said officers had to act rapidly to extract the soldiers: “During the rescue, a scooter was burned and a patrol car was overturned. We gathered all forces and entered with very strong—even disproportionate—force to regain control.”
Klein rejected IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir’s remarks insinuating that soldiers can’t enter Bnei Brak. “They’re portraying it as though Bnei Brak is off-limits—it isn’t,” he said. “Hundreds of uniformed soldiers walk around here every day. They eat in restaurants in the city without any issue. Just last week I sat next to soldiers and police officers in uniform.”
However, Klein emphasized that there’s a difference between routine presence and soldiers distributing informational material in the heart of sensitive neighborhoods.
Klein concluded by saying that the broader context behind the riots must be considered: “Let’s not be naive—you can’t disconnect this incident from the context of the draft law.”
He added that the soldiers entered the stronghold of the city’s extremist factions, leading to a predictable reaction from them: “From their perspective, it’s a legitimate response to the struggle they’re waging.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Klein is right. You don’t look to cause trouble. Those two lady soldiers should have known better. You don’t walk into Harlem wearing a KKK uniform and expect to prance around freely.
Listening to the discussions from both sides, I haven’t a challenge to the fact that chaos breeds inappropriate behavior from both sides. I still struggle to wonder about these bochurim, ostensibly those who attend yeshiva for the sole purpose of learning, being ready at moment’s notice to behave wildly. Even if I share their passion for their cause, none of that excuses their abandoning the gemora, taking to the streets, and causing damage to person or property. Demonstrations might have a purpose, but the behavior of blocking streets, attacking individuals is not okay. I am appalled at those, normally considered gedolim, that approve such behavior. So both sides can be wrong. At least police are recognizing that they went beyond their call of duty. Now the yeshivos must make a blanket issur on involvement in these hafganos. They are done in a manner that is antithetical to Torah.
This should tell you everything you need to know about how seriously the IDF takes the needs and concerns of Chareidim, especially with regard to matters of tzniyus. They wouldn’t do this to Arab soldiers. And the stuff about ‘preparing for protests’ explains exactly what the real purpose of this ‘visit’ was – to provoke protests.
The [non-Frum] police chief [who is the Superintendent of the entire Metro Tel Aviv area, not just Bnei Brak] actually gave a clear and well balanced picture of the situation. He seems to be more sympathetic to Chareidim than many YWN commenters.