When the Hand of “Law” Strikes the Hand of Torah

A kippah on his head. Violence in his hands. When will the persecution of Torah Jews end?

What happened last Thursday outside the Jerusalem recruitment office should shake every Jew to his core.

Footage has emerged (see above) showing Mishmar HaIr Commander Israel Aviv — wearing a kippah sruga — violently shoving a Charedi man to the ground. The victim was not shouting. He was not rioting. He was merely standing nearby.

Moments later, the same officer stormed toward the young men filming and demanded they delete the evidence — an act that speaks louder than any words.

This was not a moment of “chaos.” It was not “self-defense.” It was a display of power — raw, ugly, and deliberate.
A Jew wearing a kippah assaulted another Jew whose only “crime” was being visibly Charedi near a demonstration against the draft decrees.

And this, in the heart of Jerusalem — the city of peace.

The Kippah Does Not Sanctify the Fist

That the officer wore a kippah sruga makes the moment all the more painful. It is not the kippah that disgraces him — it is what he did while wearing it.

To strike a fellow Jew — a ben Torah, a man of peace — while bearing the symbol of faith is a desecration far greater than physical violence. It is a Chillul Hashem, a betrayal of the very Torah he pretends to honor.

The Torah commands:

“לֹא תַעֲשֹׁק אֶת רֵעֲךָ וְלֹא תִגְזֹל” — “Do not oppress your fellow, do not steal from him.” (Vayikra 19:13)
And Chazal add:
“הַמַלְבִּין פְּנֵי חֲבֵרוֹ בָּרַבִּים — כְּאִלּוּ שׁוֹפֵךְ דָּמִים.” — “One who publicly shames another is as if he shed blood.” (Bava Metzia 58b)

What then of one who literally throws another Jew to the ground — not a rioter, not a threat — but a peaceful passerby?

The Fruit of Years of Demonization

This is not an isolated incident. It is the inevitable result of decades of systematic incitement against Charedim in the Israeli media and political discourse.

When entire communities are portrayed as “parasites,” “leeches,” and “burdens” — when every Yeshiva bochur is painted as an enemy of the State — this is the outcome.
You dehumanize a people long enough, and eventually, someone feels justified to push them to the ground.

This is what happens when Torah learners are vilified and turned into scapegoats for every national problem — from the draft to the economy. When the spiritual guardians of the nation are cast as villains, violence becomes “patriotism.”

This Must End — Now

The time has come to say enough.
Enough humiliation.
Enough demonization.
Enough pretending that police brutality is “crowd control.”

The police are not at war with criminals — they are waging war on their own brothers. On Jews whose only weapon is a Gemara, whose only battle is for Torah.

Every Jew with a conscience — Charedi, Dati, or Chiloni — must condemn this. Because when a Torah Jew is thrown to the ground for standing in public, it is not only one man who falls — it is the dignity of all Am Yisrael that is trampled beneath those boots.

A Call for Reflection and Teshuvah

Let us remember: when Jews turn on Jews, the Shechinah departs.
When the hand of “law” is raised against the hand that holds a sefer, we lose the right to call ourselves a light unto the nations.

This violence is not only a crime against a person — it is a crime against the Torah itself.
And until the State stops criminalizing Torah and those who live by it, until police are retrained to see Klal Yisrael — not “sectors” — as their brothers, the wounds will only deepen.

We call for justice. We call for accountability. But most of all, we call for Ahavas Yisrael — real love of every Jew, not slogans used when convenient.

Because no democracy, no uniform, and no badge has the right to shove the Torah to the ground.