“MK Meir Porush Issues Final Ultimatum to Police Commissioner Over Haredi Community Cooperation Suspension”

MK Meir Porush, a member of the Knesset, addressed the Knesset plenum, referencing a letter sent to the Police Commissioner by Meir Rubinstein, chairman of the Forum of Haredi Local Authorities. The letter announced the suspension of cooperation between haredi municipalities and the police, citing what the authorities described as the persecution of Torah scholars.

Porush began his speech by stating that nine local authority heads in Israel had placed a “bright red warning sign” before the Inspector General of the Israel Police. He noted that the Forum of Haredi Local Authority Heads, led by Rabbi Meir Rubinstein, the mayor of Beitar Illit, had sent a letter to the Police Commissioner informing him that they would cease all cooperation with the police.

According to Porush, the decision to suspend cooperation was not made lightly, and the local authority leaders were fully aware of the serious implications. However, he argued that the police had become the enforcement arm of the Attorney General, who he claimed had decided to inflame tensions and trample reasonable understanding.

Porush criticized the current state of affairs, stating that Israeli police officers, instead of combating rising crime, were occupied with hunting yeshiva students—married scholars and young men whose only offense was studying Torah. He described this as a distorted reality that has no place in a properly functioning state.

In a country governed by Jews, Porush argued, the police have turned themselves into the enemy of an entire public, numbering more than one million people over the age of 18. He claimed this action has erased decades of coordinated work, daily coexistence, and basic trust that was an asset to all.

Porush further stated that there was a final ultimatum: if these arrests are not stopped immediately, and if the persecution leading the country toward complete anarchy is not ceased, the Haredi public will not remain silent. They will not file reports with a police force that has lost its trust and legitimacy.

In conclusion, Porush called on the Police Commissioner to regain his senses, emphasizing that this was an immediate duty before it became too late to turn the clock back.

Source: Read the original report