Following the assault against HaPeles newspaper editor Nati Grossman tensions have increased between the rival Degel HaTorah factions. Notices have been posted in Bnei Brak and Modi’in Illit condemning the “unprovoked attack”, viewed by HaPeles officials as stepped-up violence by the Degel Bnei Brak faction.

Grossman was attacked Thursday night the eve of 8 Teves 5773 after returning from a meeting in the home of HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Auerbach Shlita. As Grossman got out of his vehicle in Jerusalem’s Bayit Vegan neighborhood he saw two avreichim in front of his home, waiting for him, but he never imagined they were waiting to assault him. Grossman was described in “stable condition” in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital on erev shabbos. Baruch Hashem his injuries were not serious.

A protest to decry the attack is expected to take place on Sunday, 10 Teves 5773 outside the Degel office in Bnei Brak.

Israel Radio reported on Sunday morning, 10 Teves, that two Bnei Brak males have been arrested, suspects in the attack, adding the attack was “the result of a business dispute between the alleged attackers and HaPeles.”

The two suspects, avreichim in their 20s, were taken into custody in Bnei Brak, one in a Ponevezh dormitory and the second apprehended on the street. They have since been transported to Jerusalem for questioning by police involved in investigating the attack.

As the news of the attack spread on erev shabbos, HaGaon HaRav Auerbach released a letter in which he sharply decried the attack.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)