70 Ultra-Orthodox Men Entered Lebanon, Threw Stones At IDF – 4 Arrested

For the second time this week, Northern District police arrested four Breslov Hasidim Tuesday night after they crossed the border into Lebanon to visit the grave of Rabbi Ashi. The four were part of a group of 70 Breslov Hasidim who arrived at the site by a full bus and several other vehicles. Watch the report by i24NEWS’s Northern correspondent, Uriah Keshet.

According to tradition, Rabbi Ashi is buried olong the Israel-Lebanon border, adjacent to a UNIFIL compound. The group of Hasidim managed to reach as far as an army outpost near the site, while some who broke away managed to get there.

When the IDF force arrived to disperse them, some of the group threw stones at the soldiers, sparking clashes between the sides. The soldiers fired into the air, according to reports. The Northern District police, who were summoned, arrested four suspects for illegally crossing the border and disorderly conduct. The rest of the group was returned to Israeli territory by IDF forces after being removed from the site.

This is the second case this week in which Hasidim tried to reach Rabbi Ashi’s tomb in Lebanon. At the beginning of the week, 20 ultra-Orthodox men who tried to cross the border were arrested. 

Rabbi Ashi is revered as the first editor of the Babylonian Talmud, one of the most important books in rabbinical Judaism.

The police are expected to bring the four detainees to a hearing for their remand extension at the peace court in Kiryat Shmona.

A group affiliated with the Breslov movement, Dorshei Yechudcho, said it “will not allow the state to abandon to Hezbollah Rabbi Ashi’s tomb, after the people of Israel study his Talmud throughout the generations.”

The organization claims that “a month before October 7, the IDF launched a ploy – without asking anyone, they moved the border fence two meters back and left Rabbi Ashi’s grave behind the fence. Our goal is to reach the place to pray for the people of Israel, and also to convey a message to the IDF that now, after the end of the war, it is time to return the fence to its place and ensure free access for Jews.”

The police noted in a statement to the public that approaching areas adjacent to the border fence is prohibited and dangerous – let alone crossing the border into Lebanon, which is illegal by law – and the penalty for violating this law is up to four years imprisonment.