By Josh Nathan-Kazis April 18, 2017

Israeli police arrested 28 people on Tuesday in connection with an alleged extortion plot to force major companies to advertise in an ultra-Orthodox Israeli newspaper, according to a report in Ynet.

The paper, called Hapeles, is published by the followers of Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, a Jerusalem-based ultra-Orthodox rabbi who has feuded in recent years with other ultra-Orthodox leaders.

According to Ynet, executives at major companies were bombarded with faxes, phone calls and emails demanding that they advertise in Hapeles. “Some of the people were polite and some really threatened me,” one unnamed executive told Ynet. “From the other side of the line were children and adults who cursed, screamed and screamed.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Another unnamed executive told the paper that mysterious callers had phoned his mother. “My mother told me that one morning they called her and said to her, ‘Your son is taking a side and you will pay the price for it, the company will also pay a personal price,’” the executive said.

Residents of the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim attempted to disrupt the arrests by tipping over dumpsters in the middle of the street.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount