Tomer Moskowitz, head of the Tzur Hadassah local council and close friend of Justice Noam Sohlberg, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, said on Sunday that the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protest outside of Sohlberg's house "wasn't a demonstration, it was a pogrom."
Moskowitz, who spoke on Sunday with 103FM about the night of riots outside Sohlberg’s house, explained that he was praying in a nearby synagogue when he “heard loud shouting like a football game.”
Over 60 suspects were detained after the riot outside the Judge’s house on Wednesday evening, which also ended with damage to the property.
"I went outside and realized that the rioters were already there and left. I immediately arrived at Solberg's house, and we stayed with them until twelve thirty at night," Moskowitz explained.
He then recalled that Meira (Sohlberg's wife) locked the doors and the shutters. "If they had gone inside, I don't know how it would have ended. Dozens of people attacked the house and banged on the door hard. Anyone could feel their life in danger in a situation like this, and it could have ended completely differently," he said.
Moskowitz also revealed that, even if after the event, Sohlberg was "in shock," the judge has "fully recovered and is already joking with his guests."
No security for Supreme Court judges
Moskowitz added that Sohlberg wasn’t assigned any security guards, and “there weren’t even security cameras in the house.” "We never felt the need to physically protect the house. Now the police need to do a threat assessment,” he said.
"Now the police need to do a threat assessment," he added.
Senior Israel Police Superintendent Chaim Taieb told 103FM in a Thursday interview that the police are not treating the incident as a normal protest. According to him, it was a "serious criminal event with real intent to harm."
Moskowitz also called out the people criticizing Sohlberg, with many of them being right-wing figures who are against the judge's decision to allow the Red Cross to visit terrorist security prisoners in Israeli prisons.
"Noam uses a very correct expression there - the government wants to be pulled out of the fire," he clarified. "The government has had two years to change the procedures it itself established."
"They probably prefer the Red Cross to visit security detainees in order to reduce international pressure, but they don't want it to be recorded in their name. Noam is a conservative judge, and he told them that if they didn't change the law, the court wouldn't do the job for them," he added.
"A conservative judge is not a right-wing judge. Right-wing and left-wing are not traits that should characterize a judge at all. Judges are divided into activists and conservatives," he emphasized.
How was the riot outside of Sohlsberg's house?
The riots took place in opposition to Sohlberg’s order to increase arrests of draft evaders.
Extremist protesters caused significant property damage by smashing windows, damaging his car, and attempting to break into Sohlberg's house before attempting to flee the scene.
Justice Sohlberg's wife, Meira Sohlberg, spoke to reporters following the riot.
"It cannot be that Jews do this to one another. We are children of Holocaust survivors. Jews harming each other like this - how can it be? How can it be? Look at the destruction. A pogrom. What is this? A Kristallnacht. How is this possible? There are no words.”