UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf condemned the relentless persecution of Lomdei Torah following the arrests of three yeshiva bochurim overnight Tuesday, the third consecutive night that Bnei Torah were arrested in a blatant violation of their religious rights.

“The painful arrests of bnei yeshivos last night by the military and civilian police is a dangerous, aggressive, and carefully planned escalation in the relentless persecution being waged against Lomdei Torah,” Goldknopf stated.

“These scenes of ambushes and hunting down fine bochurim solely because they are bnei yeshivos sadly remind us of very dark, difficult, and painful periods in the long history of the Jewish people in exile.”

“Davka during such a sensitive, tense, and bloody security period, when Am Yisrael needs more Torah zechuyos and achdus, one would expect the police, who are entrusted with law and public order, to act with supreme responsibility, maturity, and discretion, and to completely avoid such populist measures,” Goldknopf added.

“I call from here, in the clearest possible way, on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to personally and immediately intervene in this serious incident, and without delay, order an end to these improper arrests and ambushes against Torah scholars.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)