Israel’s top court condemns ultra-Orthodox attack on judge’s home

JERUSALEM – Israel’s Supreme Court on June 4 condemned the storming of a senior judge’s house by ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters, calling it an “attack on the entire judicial system”.

The police detained dozens of men after a crowd vandalised the home of Noam Sohlberg, deputy president of the Supreme Court, in protest of the recent arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft-dodgers.

The incident took place late on June 3 in the settlement of Alon Shvut in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit said the behaviour crossed “a red line”.

“Such conduct goes far beyond the bounds of legitimate protest and amounts to an attempt to harm the sense of security of Supreme Court justices and their families,” he added in a statement.

“The severe acts of violence directed at the Deputy President and the Deputy President’s family are, in fact, an attack on the entire judicial system and on the rule of law in the State of Israel.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also spoke out against the “horrifying events”, saying that violent protest was uncalled-for “no matter what opinion or worldview”.

Police commissioner Daniel Levi likewise insisted in a statement that: “The right to protest must not turn into acts of violence, causing damage, or harming public officials.”

In a statement late on June 3, the police said “rioters disturbed the peace and damaged the home and property” of Sohlberg, with dozens detained for questioning.

Images published by Israeli media showed smashed windows, shattered flowerpots near the entrance to the house, and a vehicle with a broken windshield.

The protesters were demonstrating against recent arrests of young ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who failed to report to enlistment centres after being called up for military service.

Sohlberg has repeatedly criticised the police during court debates for not acting harshly enough against draft-dodgers.

Visibly shaken by the incident, Sohlberg’s wife Meira told Israeli reporters outside her home that she and her husband “are children of Holocaust survivors” and asked: “How can it be that Jews hurt one another like this?”

In April, a group of ultra-Orthodox anti-conscription protesters stormed the home of Israel’s military police chief, Brigadier-General Yuval Yamin, barricading themselves in his garden.

That protest drew furious condemnation from the top brass of the military and political establishment.

In recent weeks, the police have stepped up arrests of ultra-Orthodox men avoiding conscription.

There is a long-standing exemption from compulsory national service for ultra-Orthodox men who engage in full-time religious study, which dates back to Israel’s founding in 1948.

However, the Supreme Court has repeatedly challenged the exemption in recent years, culminating in a 2024 ruling that the government must conscript ultra-Orthodox men.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, relies on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties to sustain his government and has fought efforts to end the exemption. AFP