Extremists on Saturday vandalized and smashed the windows of a vehicle belonging to an ultra-Orthodox man serving in the IDF Military Rabbinate. Police forces arrived at the scene and used crowd control measures to disperse the crowd and stop the rioting. Haredi men have, for years, evaded the mandatory military draft in Israel. In recent years, government efforts have been made to integrate the ultra-Orthodox into the military in various ways. However, many within the haredi community view this as an attack on their way of life and ostracize anyone from within the community who goes along with these efforts. Last week, a mob of ultra-Orthodox rioters pelted a military police car with stones and flipped it over in Ashdod as military police officers tried to apprehend a draft evader in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood. In another incident, haredi extremists hacked the voicemail of Yechiel Radotzky, the officer in charge of haredi integration in the Israel Defense Forces. They planted a message on his voicemail saying he was "responsible for missionary work" and that he "didn't make it at yeshiva and was disqualified from combat service in the IDF due to a low general score." Radotzky responded with a Facebook post in which he referred to the perpetrators of the hack as "criminals who, in the name of God, allow themselves to do whatever they want." "Fortunately, I am not one of these people," he added. The attacks on individuals responsible for integrating haredim into the military are believed to be led by the "Jerusalem faction" -- an extremist group known to oppose the moderate sentiments within the haredi community and to have adopted an aggressive and violent protest style.
