Members of the extremist Jerusalem Faction called for a demonstration on Jabotinsky St. in Bnei Brak at 8:00 Sunday night, in protest of the arrest of two yeshiva students for draft dodging, the Kikar Hashabat Hebrew news site reported.
One of the young men who was arrested is the son of Rabbi Yosef Petrov, a senior figure in the Jerusalem Faction.
The group released an audio recording in which it said: “How can I stand to see the destruction of my kindred? (a quote from the Book of Esther, ed.)The evil state rages with anger when it sees a stubborn handful of Jews which all the power in the world cannot [move]. Fear not, and do not be afraid of them!”
“The holy Torah asks of us one thing: do not stand idly by. Go act and protest,” the recording added.
The protest against the detention of the students was referred to as the “war against it Amalek” (the tribe which attacked the stragglers, elderly and young of the Israelites when they left Egypt and which the Torah commands the Jews to destory, is used as a symbol of evil, ed.).
Petrov was arrested during protests held to disrupt the Jerusalem marathon Friday. He was transferred to the military police after police realized that he had refused to show up at the military recruitment center when he had been scheduled to to do, making him a deserter.
Police announced that five demonstrators were arrested after protesters rioted and attempted to block traffic. According to police the demonstrators violently attacked officers.
Police declared the protest illegal and a threat to public safety.
