Dozens of angry Haredim from the anti-Zionist Jerusalem faction (Peleg Yerushalmi) attacked Major General David Zini on Thursday night. Zini, who is leading the establishment of the IDF’s Haredi Hashmonaim (Hasmoneans) Brigade, who was dining with his aide, Major Muli Boimel, at Goldys’ restaurant in Bnei Brak. The attackers arrived at the restaurant after word had spread that Zini had arrived, and shouted “Murderer” at the general. They also shouted “Nuchba,” the name of the Hamas murderers/rapists.
בני ברק: ניידת משטרה התעכבה בזירה הלילה לאחר שעצרה חשוד שתקף את האלוף דוד זיני, בעת שהגיע לאכול במסעדת ‘גולדיס’. במקום התאספו מפגינים קיצוניים, שחלקם צעקו “תשחררו את החטופים” בהתייחסות למעצר חבריהם מוקדם יותר, בעוד אחרים קראו “מלחמה”. קרדיט הפרגוד pic.twitter.com/90loK3ixQX
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) January 10, 2025
Major General Zini is the son of Rabbi Yosef and Pnina Zini, the eldest of ten children. He studied at Morasha Talmud Torah, Hispin Yeshiva High School, Shavei Hebron Yeshiva, and the Keshet Yehuda Pre-Military Academy. As head of Training Command and the commander of the General Staff Corps, Zini leads the IDF’s project of recruiting Haredi youths into the purely Haredi Hashmonaim Brigade, where the standards of Haredi society are maintained.
Goldys’ is a Bnei Brak restaurant where many are served cholent Thursday night in honor of the approaching Shabbat.
הערב האלוף זיני אכל טשולנט עם יועצו מולי בוימל במסעדת גולדיס בבני ברק, לפתע הופיעו בערך 100 מפגינים שקראו לעברו קריאות גנאי, המשטרה חילצה את האלוף ואת יועצו בוימל.
אפשר להשתמש בתיעוד ובתמונה בה הוא ממתין לחילוץ בתוך המסעדה, לא צריך לבקש אישור ולא צריך קרדיט pic.twitter.com/Xcupf1mghD
— יענקי פרבר | Yanki Farber (@yankihebrew) January 9, 2025
Police officers who were called to the scene intervened between the rioters and Zini and his entourage and eventually rescued them from the scene. Three Haredi rioters were arrested, ages 19, 24, and 29, all of them Bnei Brak residents. A band of rioters demonstrated in front of the Bnei Brak police station in protest of the arrests, crying, “Release the hostages.”
בני ברק הלילה: עשרות קיצוניים תקפו את האלוף דוד זיני שבקיקר במסעדה בעיר ואת עוזרו רס”ן מולי בוימל. הקיצוניים השליכו לעברם חפצים, כינו אותם “רוצחים” ו”נוחבות”. המשטרה חילצה אותם מהמקום. pic.twitter.com/8hQMFLq6M2
— שילה פריד?? (@shilofreid) January 10, 2025
This morning, the suspects will be brought for a hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court.
Last July, Zini was attacked by a rioting mob after his late-night meeting in Bnei Brak with Rabbi David Leibel, founder of the Achvat Torah community network, a well-known Haredi rabbi who supports the recruitment of Haredim into the IDF under certain conditions.
On Sunday this week, dozens of young Haredi men reported to the recruitment camp in Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, as part of the first recruitment of the new Hashmonaim Haredi Brigade. The first 50 Haredi recruits had already enlisted, forming the nucleus for the first company in the brigade. By the end of the day Sunday, the enlistment of approximately 100 Haredim to serve in the reserve service was completed. They began training as infantry soldiers, a six-month long course, at the end of which they would form part of the brigade’s first reserve company. In addition, several recruitment drives will take place in January, and recruits in these drives will join the basic training process.
