Filming a video of himself on the streets, he declared, \u201cThis is what happens when people sense that draft evasion is winning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis didn\u2019t happen in a vacuum; there is an address for this behavior. Netanyahu and the Haredi parties, what did you think would happen? You turned a blind eye to the cries of \u2018We will die rather than enlist.\u2019 What did you think would happen? What did you think would happen when you ignored the violence directed at Haredi soldiers who do enlist?\u201d Bennett asked in the clip that he posted to social media.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n In response, Deri called on police to \u201cimmediately issue a restraining order\u201d to remove Bennett from the city, although there was unlikely any legal basis for his demand.<\/p>\n \u201cThis inciter and instigator arrived in the city with the aim of inflaming passions and exploiting this painful situation to gain votes for himself. This despicable man, who does not care about anything, is the last person who should be at the scene,\u201d Deri declared in a statement posted to his X account.<\/p>\n Responding in a post, Bennett said, \u201cThe problem is not Deri, who has gotten used to being the owner of the country, but Netanyahu, who sold it to him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d1\u05e8\u05e7, \u05e2\u05db\u05e9\u05d9\u05d5. \u2014 Naftali Bennett \u05e0\u05e4\u05ea\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d8 (@naftalibennett) February 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhen Deri calls on healthy young Haredi men not to dare to enlist to help IDF soldiers, Netanyahu is silent, supportive, and promotes a conscription law that abandons our soldiers,\u201d Bennett said.\n<\/p>\n In response, Deri\u2019s Shas party accused the former premier of selling out Israel to Arab politician Mansour Abbas \u201cin exchange for the prime minister\u2019s seat.\u201d<\/p>\n The Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government, which was in office from 2021 to 2022, made history by including the Islamist Ra\u2019am party, led by Abbas, in its coalition of right-wing, centrist, and left-wing parties.<\/p>\n \u201cYour cynical exploitation of IDF soldiers and bereaved families is no less grave than your arrival in Bnei Brak to profit from the rifts you created. It seems there is no depth you won\u2019t stoop to,\u201d the Shas statement added.<\/p>\n In a follow-up post, Bennett declared that \u201can independent Haredi state has been set up here that is not subject to Israeli law,\u201d and is funded by the rest of Israel\u2019s citizens.<\/p>\n \u201cAll this is happening because Netanyahu is completely dependent on the good graces of Deri and [Yitzhak] Goldknopf,\u201d he added, referring to the head of the Shas-allied ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is tired and weak and surrenders to them at every juncture,\u201d said Bennett, a hawkish politician who is widely seen as Netanyahu\u2019s primary challenger for the premiership in this year\u2019s Knesset election.<\/p>\n \t The ambush of the two soldiers and subsequent riots in Bnei Brak received across-the-board condemnation, including from Haredi politicians and spiritual leaders, who warned that the incident might damage the community\u2019s anti-conscription efforts.<\/p>\n Goldknopf\u00a0 said he was shocked by the footage and called the violence \u201ccontrary to the Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n Deri said the incident stood to \u201charm the entire Haredi public, cause a desecration of God\u2019s name, and inflict heavy damage on the righteous struggle for the Torah world.\u201d<\/p>\n For the past two years, the Haredi leadership has pushed for a law keeping its constituency out of the IDF, after the High Court ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.<\/p>\n Since then, coalition lawmakers, dependent on Haredi support to keep them in government, have struggled to find a formulation that could win ultra-Orthodox backing while also meeting widespread demands for the community to share in the burden of mandatory military service.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tTwo female IDF soldiers are rescued by police after being chased by a mob in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak on February 15, 2026. (Screenshots\/David Keshet\/X)<\/p>\n
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