In an unusual and dramatic move, Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni instructed the party’s representatives in municipalities across Israel to immediately suspend cooperation with the Israel Police, including municipal policing frameworks, until further notice.

The directive comes amid mounting outrage in the chareidi community following a recent change in police policy under Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levy, under which Israeli police have begun transferring yeshiva bochurim detained during encounters with law enforcement to the military police over draft-related issues.

“We must not, chalilah, become partners in harming the holy Torah and those who learn it,” Gafni wrote in a sharply worded letter sent to Degel HaTorah representatives throughout the country.

The move follows a wave of arrests involving yeshiva students over the past several days. During the last night alone, at least three yeshiva bochurim were reportedly handed over to military authorities after being detained by Israeli police.

Among those arrested was Reuven Lemanztach, a bochur from Yeshivas Kibbutz Givat Zev, who was reportedly detained on Route 1 before being transferred to the military police.

As previously reported, the rosh yeshiva of the detained bochur, Rav Dovid Baron, delivered an emotional shmuess in response to the arrest.

“We are living through the darkest periods, like the era of the Romans,” Rav Baron said. “I saw the bochur at the end of third seder, and in the morning they woke me to tell me he had been arrested.”

The growing tensions have also spilled into the Knesset, where members of United Torah Judaism sharply criticized Religious Zionist coalition partners over their boycott of a vote on the daycare subsidy bill.

UTJ faction chairman MK Uri Maklev said, “The fact that Likud cannot even assemble a majority for the most elementary and humane matter — daycare for innocent babies — proves that there is no real bloc.”

Gafni himself lashed out at what he described as increasing hostility toward the chareidi public.

“The hatred against the chareidi community is causing them to lose all sense and is also harming the working and weaker segments of the population,” Gafni said, emphasizing that the daycare legislation had long been considered a basic and widely accepted measure intended to assist women entering the workforce.

MK Yoav Ben Tzur also addressed the matter during a Knesset speech, questioning the treatment of yeshiva students by authorities.

“Who exactly are you arresting?” Ben Tzur asked. “Outstanding bochurim who have never encountered police because they are law-abiding citizens? The chareidi public and its leadership respect IDF soldiers.”

Israeli police, however, defended their actions, claiming that one of the bochurim transferred to military custody had first been stopped after allegedly driving recklessly on Route 60, weaving between lanes and seriously endangering himself and others on the road.

According to police, a background check revealed that the suspect was absent from military service obligations, leading to his transfer to IDF authorities.

Police also stated that following the arrest, dozens of protesters arrived at the Binyamin police station and launched what authorities described as a violent disturbance that included overturning a police trailer, setting cardboard boxes on fire, and bending security fences. Officers, together with riot police and Border Police forces, acted to disperse the crowd.