Several Israeli politicians condemned the riot that took place on Sunday night at the Beit Shemesh police station following the arrest of a suspected draft dodger, which resulted in several rioters breaking into the compound.
Eight individuals were arrested by the Israel Police.
Former IDF chief of staff and Yashar! Party leader Gadi Eisenkot slammed the incident in a Monday morning post to X/Twitter, calling the break-in a "black flag over Israeli democracy and over Israel as a state in which all are equal before the law."
"It is a continuation of the anarchists' break-in to Sde Teiman, the Justice Minister's statement yesterday against the High Court of Justice's decision on appointing judges, and the inflammatory and rebellious statements by MK [Moshe] Gafni and [Aryeh] Deri, from recent days, against the law enforcement systems."
Eisenkot called for the arrest and harsh prosecution of all those who took part in the riot.
The responsibility for the incident falls to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and MKs and Knesset members from Likud and the Religious Zionist Party, Eisenkot said.
Practical translation of draft law
According to Democrats Party head Yair Golan, the riot was a "practical translation" of the contentious haredi draft law.
"When Netanyahu and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir turn draft refusal into a coalition anchor, the message to the field is clear: deserters are worth more than police officers," Golan wrote on X. "Ben-Gvir, a minister for whom governance exists only on TikTok, simply turns a blind eye and abandons his officers."
"As far as he and Netanyahu are concerned, Israel's police officers are pawns that can be sacrificed so as not to anger the Haredi power brokers. The rioters understand they have backing, and that it's permissible to assault those in uniform."
Golan affirmed that, should his party be elected to the Knesset, the matter would be resolved.
"Deserters will enlist or go to prison, and anyone who attacks a police officer will sit with them in the same cell," he said.
MK Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) echoed Golan and Eisenkot's words, condemning the "normalized" riot as "an assault by thugs disguised as observant Jews."
"The time has come to put an end to the evasion," he said, "In the next government, indictments will be filed against every single rioter, and they will go to prison."