Israel Police officers from the Modi'in station responded on Monday night to a protest in the city that erupted during a Military Police operation to arrest a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft dodger, police confirmed early on Tuesday morning.
Footage of the scene shared by Israeli media showed numerous haredi men protesting and clashing with police officers.
According to reports from the scene, soldiers attempting to deal with the haredi protesters were sprayed with pepper spray.
Later, Israeli media reported that the soldiers had left the scene without the draft dodger.
IDF condemns interference with enforcement activity
The IDF confirmed the Military Police's enforcement action as part of the Defense Service Law against deserters and draft evaders in a statement released on Tuesday.
A large, organized group gathered at the scene to "interfere with the arrest and endanger the safety of the soldiers," the IDF said.
The IDF condemned attempts to interfere with or harm soldiers carrying out enforcement activity against deserters and draft evaders, saying such operations would continue in accordance with the law.
Opposition leaders decry haredi protest, warn country on 'brink of disaster'
Opposition leaders in the bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the October elections condemned the incident, while also calling for enforcement of haredi conscription to the IDF in the next government.
Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot stated that the incident reflected “the same dangerous worldview that seeks to make draft evasion the norm and portray those who fulfill their duty to the state as suckers.”
Eisenkot pledged that in the next government, a conscription law to draft haredim would be passed that would “strengthen the IDF and put an end to the reality in which some serve while others evade service."
“That is what the upcoming election is about: Netanyahu’s draft-dodging government or a government of conscription led by me,” he added.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who leads the B’Yachad party, warned that the country was on “the brink of another disaster,” calling the incident intolerable.
He vowed that the next government would “ensure that extremist rioters who harm the State of Israel do not run a state within a state here under the government’s protection.”
Bennett also stated that draft evaders would not "receive a single shekel" of state funding in the next government.
Yisrael Beytenu chairperson MK Avigdor Liberman also condemned the incident.
He stated that “once again, Netanyahu’s partners are rioting, attacking soldiers and police officers who came to arrest a deserter in Modi’in.”
“It is simply intolerable that IDF soldiers are forced to flee under heavy police protection as if they were in Jenin, not Modi’in,” Liberman added.
"Without the deserters, Bibi has no government," he continued.
Keshet Neev and Efrat Forsher contributed to this report.