Shas chairman Aryeh Deri launched a sharp attack on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Wednesday, accusing police of cracking down on ultra-Orthodox protesters near Bnei Brak with force they never used against left-wing anarchists at Kaplan protests. Deri said it is unacceptable that police treat citizens who cry out for being turned into criminals simply because they study Torah, while the same police did nothing at Kaplan against those seeking to destroy the state. Deri's statement was posted by journalist Eli Hirshman on Channel 12.
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri launched his sharpest attack yet on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Wednesday morning, accusing police of cracking down on ultra-Orthodox protesters with force never used against left-wing anarchists at the Kaplan protests. The statement, published by journalist Eli Hirshman on Channel 12, frames the police dispersal near Bnei Brak as a deliberate double standard. Deri's demand that Ben Gvir 'wake up' deepens a rift that has unfolded over the course of the morning, as the two coalition leaders traded blame over police conduct and the fate of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
The exchange is the latest in a rapid escalation The Zioneer has tracked since 09:40 Jerusalem, when Deri first warned Ben Gvir that Shas would not stand idly by against police violence. By 09:45, UTJ MK Meir Porush had called for Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and the officers involved in the dispersal to resign, comparing police tactics to those in Turkey and Iran. Video footage emerged by 10:23 appearing to show Bnei Brak-Ramat Gan Police Station Commander Deputy Superintendent Yuval Shavit dragging a protester — a claim that remains unverified and officially unanswered. At 10:29, Ben Gvir attacked Deri for failing to fire the attorney general, and within the same minute Deri hit back, saying the claim was a 'repeated lie' and that all Shas MKs had signed the demand for her dismissal. Deri's new statement, published minutes later, escalated the language further by directly comparing police treatment of Haredim to that of Kaplan protesters.
Background: The Zioneer reported on Wednesday 09:40 that Deri had warned Ben Gvir he could not stand idly by against what he described as police violence. Separate coverage from earlier this week noted right-wing figures blaming the attorney general for a hit-and-run injury at a separate Jerusalem faction protest, citing her past statements on protest disruption. The wider context includes reports of Haredi rioters breaking into a police station in Beit Shemesh on Saturday — an incident that remains unattributed beyond a single news channel.
The claim that a police commander dragged a protester remains unconfirmed; the officer has not formally responded. The exact timing and sequence of Deri's latest statement relative to the morning's earlier volleys is not precisely established, but it is a clear escalation in tone and scope.
3 developments
- StrongProtesters disperse, Highway 4 reopens; Deri warns Ben Gvir over police violence
- DevelopingShas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur accuses police of selective enforcement against Haredi protesters
- StrongShas MK Azoulay denounces police violence in Knesset speech
- StrongDeri attacks Likud, says Arab MKs value Torah more than some coalition lawmakers
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
- Internal intake