Chashmonaim Soldier Attacked On Shabbat In Beit Shemesh By Chareidim

 A shocking incident took place on Friday night in Beit Shemesh. Yosef Rosenberger, a charedi soldier serving in the Hashmonaim Brigade, was violently attacked by dozens of Breslov Hasidim who came to his home.

Friends of Yosef arrived at the scene to try and defend him and were also assaulted. One of them lost his two front teeth. The attackers reportedly threatened: “We will burn your house with your children.”

The incident lasted several long minutes, during which the extremists threatened Yosef that they would return and that he would not be able to continue living in the neighborhood, neither him nor his children. The victim is now filing a complaint with the Beit Shemesh police.

The incident began at the entrance to the building where he lives. When he arrived there, he was met with insults because he had enlisted in the army and had been involved in organizing activities for Independence Day in the neighborhood. The soldier was singled out by the extremists, who later came to his home. Dozens of youths threatened him and began clashing with him and with a group of synagogue worshippers who arrived at the scene and defended him.

Residents in the neighborhood testified that the attackers were a group of baalei teshuva who had recently established a yeshiva inside a residential building. “A group that isn’t connected to the city came here,” they told Ynet.

“They intimidate passersby. They’ve decided they are responsible for enforcing modesty in the neighborhood and ‘guarding’ against things they don’t like, including attacking a woman who was walking with her children because of a dispute with her husband. They don’t belong to Beit Shemesh; they should establish their yeshiva in another city,” residents said.

According to a report by Channel 13 reporter Yoeli Brim, this reflects a worsening trend of extremist groups within Haredi society asserting control in the streets, alongside what is described as a resounding silence from Haredi public officials, who themselves are reportedly afraid.