Rabbi Dov Landau orders Wednesday's mass protest cancelled

Rabbi Dov Lando, a preeminent authority in the haredi community, ordered the cancellation of a mass protest planned for tomorrow (Wednesday) over the arrest of deserters, which was expected to involve tens of thousands of haredim.

The decision was made last night (Monday), while preparations for the mass event had already ramped up and had been approved by another haredi leader, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch.

At a meeting attended by representatives from the Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael political factions, planners were to discuss the detailed arrangements for the demonstration, which was intended to block major roads with massive convoys of slow-moving vehicles.

However, during the discussion an urgent message arrived from Rabbi Dov Lando's home, with an explicit instruction to immediately halt preparations for the event.