On Friday, the blockades took effect in parts of five cities, adding the Haredi enclaves in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh. In the past, the government also cordoned off the West Bank-based city of Beitar Illit and the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Ashdod.
On Saturday, 10 others were arrested in Jerusalem as ultra-Orthodox demonstrators faced police protests opposed to the blockades. Hundreds of protesters blocked the intersection of Yirmiyahu and Shamgar streets and threw stones, eggs and other items at officials responding to the situation, Israeli police said in a statement.
At the height of the first wave, the cities of Beit Shemesh, Elad and Modiin Illit each had more active instances than Tel Aviv, the second largest population center in the country. In April, the ultra-Orthodox that the city of Bnei Brak placed under closing orders, as did several predominantly Hasidic neighborhoods of Beit Shemesh.
Earlier this month, when the wave of moments began sweeping Israel and the instances doubled in the capital, the National Center for Information and Knowledge in Corona released figures showing that the maximum increase in Jerusalem was concentrated in the ultra-Orthodox and East Jerusalem neighborhoods. But virus rates are increasing across the country and no other high-infection spaces have been isolated.
While the ultra-Orthodox were reluctant to close yeshivas and synagogues, then social estrangement measures followed. However, many public aptitude experts claim that such measures are inadequate due to a number of other points beyond their control. Other ultra-Orthodox people sometimes have giant families, live in dense urban spaces, and adopt a way of life that emphasizes network engagement, all of which can facilitate the spread of the virus.
Members of the community have complained that enforcement of the virus regulations has been concentrated on them, while giving other Israelis a pass.
On Sunday, police announced a plan for implementing social estrangement rules to curb the spread of the coronavirus, with thousands of officers enlisted in a special task force to conduct inspections.
Since then, ultra-Orthodox news sites and social media accounts have shared several videos of law enforcement officials using what may be a disproportionate force as opposed to ultra-Orthodox Jews for failing to comply with mask regulations.
In one case, which triggered widespread outrage, police were filmed arresting an ultra-Orthodox woguy for not wearing his face mask properly. In the video, the woguy, reportedly thirteen, begins to cry as the police interrogate her. According to witnesses and woguy’s mother, she put on a mask and took it out of her face to drink. In the video, she is not dressed in a mask, however, a boy approaches and seems to give her one.
– פולק (@shlomo_polak) 6 July 2020
Her mother complained to the News of the Twelfth Channel that police promptly told the woman she was fining her, rather than just asking her to put on the mask properly.
On several occasions, efforts to regulate the mask in ultra-Orthodox extremist enclaves such as Mea Shearim have provoked clashes between police and Hasidim.
In an incident reported through Kikar HaShabbat’s website, a woman handcuffed after not covering her nose with her mask and refusing to provide her identification number. According to the ultra-Orthodox news website, the woman fainted and received treatment while still in handcuffs.
In a video shared on social media, you can notice that a police officer slaps an ultra-Orthodox guy while shouting “mask”, as the guy appears to be dressed in one.
להוציא את מגב מהשכונות החרדיות! שוטרי מגב לא עברו הכשרה מתאימה ואלימים מידי מלטפל באוכלוסיה חרדית. pic.twitter.com/Likr3C0MWE
– meni shwartz – שורץ (@menishwartz) 12 July 2020
In another, you can see that a police officer punches an ultra-Orthodox guy in the face at a rally.
– Liran Tamari (@liran__tamari) 12 July 2020
Police violence, the application of mask rules was not limited to the ultra-Orthodox.
On Wednesday, lawmakers heard the testimony of David Biton, a 24-year-old boy from the central city of Holon, who filmed being beaten and convicted by police before being imprisoned for four days for not wearing a mask. “They were just looking to hit me brutally,” he said, according to news website Ynet. Biton described the beating as an “unprecedented cruelty,” according to the report.
During the incident, which was filmed, officials beat and continuously attacked Biton as he screamed. He had to be hospitalized for cuts and bruises suffered the incident.
Police said Biton refused to identify himself and resisted arrest. In the video, it looks like you should take your ID card out of your pocket before officials throw it on the ground.
– MOSHE YIFRAH “צבא” A”! (@MosheYifrah) July 5, 2020
A police spokesman told the Twelfth Channel that it was a “bad incident” and that it was recently under investigation.
In a recently published letter on his Facebook page, The Minister of Public Safety, Amir Ohana, wrote that he was aware of the problem, saying: “I watch the videos. I see and it hurts. They’re not simple. Believe me, they’re not simple to the police either.
“In incidents where there is bad behavior, the factor will be completely clarified, procedures will be clarified, and, if necessary, classes will be taught,” Ohana added.
“The police are the enemy. They do their sacred duty in a national effort.”
Separately, 19 others were arrested in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, largely a secular demonstration opposed to government restrictions on coronavirus-related corporations. According to Ynet, police in some cases used horse-drawn carriages and pepper spray to disperse crowds when a lot of others blocked the roads and clashed with police.