Haredi Protesters Block Major Interchange Over Draft Evader Arrests

Good Morning, Israel · Monday, October 19, 2026 · 7:46

Good Morning, Israel · Episode 22

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1. Haredi Protesters Block Major Interchange Over Draft Evader Arrests
2. Behind Trump's Netanyahu Endorsement: Opposition Efforts and Internal US Debate
3. Kaplan Hospital Investigates Alleged Medical Malpractice in Cardiology Department
4. Austrian Airlines Plane Makes Emergency Landing in Bulgaria After Bomb Threat
5. Israel Approves $700 Million Budget Cuts for Defense Needs
6. TV Host Yinon Magal Clarifies 'Monkey' Remark About Gadi Eisenkot

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Maya

Ultra-Orthodox protesters shut down a major highway interchange in central Israel, furious over the arrest of draft evaders.

Daniel

And that's on top of a government that's just cut billions of shekels from civilian ministries to pay for defense.

Maya

This is Good Morning, Israel from baba News. It's Monday, October nineteenth. I'm Maya.

Daniel

And I'm Daniel.

Maya

Daniel, start with the road. Where was this, and who blocked it?

Daniel

The Gan Yavne Interchange, a busy junction south of Tel Aviv, near the coastal city of Ashdod. Dozens of protesters from the Jerusalem Faction blocked it on Sunday morning.

Maya

The Jerusalem Faction, for listeners who haven't met them.

Daniel

A hardline ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, group. It's fiercely opposed to its young men serving in the army, and it's behind many of these protests.

Maya

And this one wasn't on the schedule.

Daniel

Right. It began unexpectedly, hours before a larger protest that had been planned. The protesters called the blockade a price tag for the arrests.

Maya

Price tag meaning, you arrest our people, we make you pay.

Daniel

Exactly. And the people paying were ordinary drivers. There were confrontations with motorists before police reopened the road and redirected traffic.

Maya

Why is this such a flashpoint right now?

Daniel

Because the old system of broad Haredi exemptions from military service has broken down. The army needs soldiers after years of war, and military police are now arresting men who ignore their call-up orders.

Maya

And yesterday we told you about the economic side of this, the low workforce participation among the Haredim.

Daniel

Same story, two fronts. Who serves, and who works. With the election just over a week away, every party has to answer for it.

Maya

Speaking of the election, Donald Trump has picked a side.

Daniel

The U S President publicly endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. What's new is the picture of how that happened behind the scenes.

Maya

Which was not quiet.

Daniel

Not at all. According to the reports, opposition leaders, including Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, tried to head off the endorsement through various contacts in Washington.

Maya

And Ambassador Mike Huckabee comes into it again.

Daniel

He does. The U S Ambassador met opposition figures, including Gadi Eisenkot, the former I D F Chief of Staff who's now running in the election. That meeting reportedly pushed Netanyahu's camp to go to Trump directly.

Maya

So one meeting with the opposition, and the Prime Minister's people go straight to the top.

Daniel

That's how it's being described. And not everyone around Trump liked the idea. Some of his advisors opposed the endorsement.

Maya

But he went ahead anyway.

Daniel

He did, possibly swayed by polling data from John McLaughlin, a Republican pollster who has worked with Netanyahu.

Maya

Does an American endorsement actually move Israeli votes?

Daniel

It's a message to voters that Netanyahu can deliver Washington. For a country that depends on that relationship, that's a powerful pitch. The opposition clearly thought so too, or they wouldn't have tried to stop it.

Maya

To money now, and a lot of it moving from one side of the budget to the other.

Daniel

On Sunday, October eighteenth, the government approved two point six billion shekels in cuts from civilian ministries. That's roughly seven hundred million dollars.

Maya

Cut from where?

Daniel

Transportation, education, social welfare and health. It's about four point nine percent of ministry spending.

Maya

And it's going to defense.

Daniel

To urgent defense purchases. The Ministry of Defense cited national security, and the purchases are classified.

Maya

So we don't know what's being bought.

Daniel

We don't. What we do know is that a week ago the government allocated one point zero three billion shekels for Apache helicopters. Put the two together, and that's more than three point six billion shekels in extra defense spending in a single week.

Maya

In a week. Somebody at the Defense Ministry is in a hurry.

Daniel

Right, and that tells you something about the threat picture. An urgent, classified purchase usually means a specific need, now. The trade-off is classrooms, buses and hospitals feeling the squeeze.

Maya

Staying with hospitals, and a troubling story from Kaplan Medical Center.

Daniel

Kaplan is a major hospital in Rehovot, a city south of Tel Aviv. It has filed a police complaint and suspended the head of its cardiology department.

Maya

Over what?

Daniel

Allegations that blood samples were taken from patients without their consent, for research.

Maya

That's about as basic a rule in medicine as there is.

Daniel

It is. The hospital has informed the Ministry of Health, which is running its own review, while police investigate.

Maya

And this isn't the first problem in that department.

Daniel

No. In a separate controversy, the department head was accused of falsifying residency records, the records of doctors in training. That led to recommendations to revoke the department's training accreditation.

Maya

Meaning young cardiologists couldn't train there.

Daniel

Exactly. Next comes the police investigation and the Health Ministry's findings. Patients will want to know how this was allowed to happen.

Maya

Now a scare in the air. An Austrian Airlines flight out of Tel Aviv.

Daniel

The flight was heading from Tel Aviv to Vienna on Sunday when a bomb threat was called in. It made an emergency landing in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

Maya

Who made the threat?

Daniel

According to the reports, a resident of Vienna. The plane, an Airbus A three twenty, had fifty-one passengers and six crew on board. It landed safely.

Maya

And now?

Daniel

It's going through security checks. Once the inspections are done, the airline will arrange a replacement flight.

Maya

A quick round now. And a sad one first.

Daniel

Ofir Deli, an Israeli from Eli, a community in Samaria, north of Jerusalem, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Krabi, a resort area in southern Thailand. He leaves his wife, Shira, and their six children.

Maya

Six children. Our thoughts are with the family.

Daniel

Banking next. The C E O of Bank Leumi, one of Israel's biggest banks, doesn't want to be told to pay interest on checking accounts.

Maya

Hanan Friedman.

Daniel

Right. He opposes a mandatory rule that banks pay interest on all checking balances. His argument is that banks should decide based on economic conditions and the kind of account.

Maya

Money you can grab any time is different from money you lock away.

Daniel

That's his distinction, checking accounts versus fixed-term deposits. And it comes after a class-action lawsuit against major Israeli banks, alleging they haven't paid interest on checking account funds.

Maya

And finally, Iran has a new Defense Minister.

Daniel

Iran's parliament approved Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi on October eighteenth. He was nominated by President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Maya

What's his background?

Daniel

He led Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization, and he's under U S and E U sanctions. He replaces an interim minister, who took over after the previous Defense Minister was killed in strikes in February twenty twenty-six.

Maya

And his first message?

Daniel

He vowed to strengthen Iran's defense capabilities, and warned of a significant regional response to any future American or Israeli strike.

Maya

So a sanctioned weapons man takes the job, and opens with a threat.

Daniel

Which is exactly why Israel watches who Tehran puts in that chair.

Maya

One thing to watch today. Those Austrian Airlines passengers stuck in Sofia, and whether their replacement flight to Vienna gets off the ground once the inspections are cleared.

Daniel

Follow Good Morning, Israel so tomorrow's episode is waiting for you.

Maya

See you tomorrow morning.