Yeshivah Bochur stone-thrower arrested for attack on IDF soldier

Police arrested an anti-draft extremist in Beit Shemesh Monday evening, hours after an IDF soldier was injured in a stone-throwing attack that caused him to lose control of his vehicle and crash.

The attack occurred Monday morning, when a 21-year-old soldier driving in a predominantly-Charedi neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh.

Anti-draft radicals spotted the driver’s IDF uniform, the soldier later said, and began hurling rocks at the vehicle.

During the attack, the soldier lost control of his vehicle and crashed into an electric pole.

MDA emergency first responders were called to the scene, and treated the soldier before evacuating him to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. MDA officials say the soldier suffered light injuries in the crash.

“When we arrived at the scene, we saw the driver walking around a car that had crashed into an electric pole,” an MDA medic who treated the soldier reported.

“He told us that he hit the pole after a rock was thrown at him. He was lightly injured. We gave him medical treatment and evacuated him to the hospital in light condition.

Police units were also dispatched to the scene of the attack, and opened an investigation into the incident.

On Monday night, police arrested one suspect in connection with the savage attack, Behadrei Haredim reported.

Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbol condemned the attack.

“It is sad that we have these kinds of extremists living here. I once again call on the extremists, as I called on them at [last year’s] Memorial Day honoring fallen IDF soldiers: 

get out of our city.”