Israeli police clash with angry mob of religious Jews over court sentence

ISRAELI police forces clashed yesterday in Jerusalem with ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting a court sentence handed to a member of the religious community for assaulting a policewoman.

Gabel Eliezer, a 37-year-old Jew from the hardline Toldot Aharon sect, was sentenced yesterday by a Jerusalem court to three months in prison over the incident, which occurred 15 months ago.

He was sentenced for attacking and spitting the policewoman, who was trying to break up a protest staged in and around a synagogue where members of the community were meeting to discuss the issue of a shop allegedly selling pornographic videos.

Eliezer claimed the police officer entered a synagogue, whose access is reserved to men, and denied the assault charges.

Before going to the Ramle prison, where he should eventually only serve two months, groups of anti-Zionist supporters as carried Eliezer on a chair as a hero through the streets of the ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Mea Sharim.

Among the estimated 5,000-strong crowd of protestors, some of them were chanting slogans against the state and some banners could be seen which read: "The Orthodox Jewry demands international forces for protection from 'Nazionist' oppression".

Scuffles erupted between some religious Jews and the large contingent of police forces, and protestors smashed a police car. No injuries were reported.

The Toldot Aharon sect of haredi Jews came from Hungary during the British mandate of Palestine and are known for their extreme religious observance and their distinctive gray and white striped robes.

Israel counts more than a million ultra-Orthodox Jews, a community made up of hundreds of sects, some of which are anti-Zionist, believing only the Messiah can establish a Jewish nation.