Toldot Aharon teacher with children
Toldot Aharon teacher with childrenFlash 90

Early on Sunday morning, Israel Police arrested one of the men suspected of attacking an IDF soldier on Friday in Jerusalem's haredi Mea Shearim neighborhood.

The soldier's father, former Yesh Atid MK Dov Lipman, spoke with Arutz Sheva about the incident.

"I received a phone call from someone who was there," Lipman said. "He told me that they had taken Shlomo somewhere. I had no idea what they were talking about. I thought maybe it was a kidnapping, G-d forbid."

"After a few minutes, I managed to reach my son via telephone. He told me he hadn't been able to answer because he was running away from them. Half an hour later, he called me from the police station.

"He was in a bookstore. He wanted to buy a book. Those bullies arrived outside the bookstore and blocked the exit, and some of them forced their way into the store. One of the store's workers told Shlomo to follow him, and together they went under the stairs and out a different exit to the street.

"That's how they got him out, via a back exit.

"The bullies saw he was in the street and started chasing him. My son didn't know where he should run to. He didn't know where he was, he didn't know how to get out of the neighborhood. They were chasing him.

"Thank G-d, a Toldot Aharon hasid told him to come with him, and took him through the alleyways. Other haredim also escorted him, and then United Hatzalah volunteers and policemen arrived on the scene, and it turned into a kind of parade, with them escorting him. At some point a Magen David Adom ambulance arrived and the policemen told him to get into the ambulance. They sat with him in the ambulance and got him out of there."

Lipman noted that the police report included stone throwing, and said his son is used to the shouting, since the family lives in Beit Shemesh, but didn't think he would be ambushed by dozens of bullies, all standing outside a bookstore waiting to attack him.

"The shouts were really not nice," Lipman said, adding that, "Nazi!" "Take off your kippah! You think you're religious?" "Haredi traitor!" and "When was the last time you prayed?" were just some of the sentences shouted at his son Shlomo.

"Some of those shouting were women and children," Lipman quoted Shlomo as saying, noting his son's remark that "the women's eyes were filled with a lot of hate."

Lipman says his son is doing "fine," thanks to the haredim who helped him escape the neighborhood.

"I know it's not easy for that neighborhood's residents. My wife and family and I think they're heroes. I'm very angry at them, and I want to do something about it," Lipman said, adding that he is sure there are ways to put stop haredim from continuing to attack IDF soldiers.

"The police told Shlomo that as long as the attacks are verbal, they can't do anything," Dov Lipman added. "But I think we need to make a law that even yelling at an IDF soldier is a criminal offense. There are limits to free speech."

"If we want a healthy society, we cannot allow people to shout hate at our soldiers. I have spoken to some members of my party, and I have no doubt that we will receive support from other parties as well.

"We need to do something, and the judicial system has the tools necessary to punish attackers and prevent future incidents."