Ultra-Orthodox try to again block highway in anti-draft demo
Police arrest seven of 150 demonstrators in central Israel, amid new protests over draft-dodger detentions
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Police on Tuesday arrested seven ultra-Orthodox protesters who tried to block a main highway by lying in the road in yet-another demonstration following the arrest of a community member for draft-dodging.
Some 150 people tried to block Geha Junction — one of the main interchanges in central Israel — to protest the jailing of yeshiva student Yisrael Meir Toledano for 56 days in a military prison.
His arrest several weeks ago sparked the protests, many of which turned ugly.
On Sunday, police had to extricate an ultra-Orthodox soldier from a bookstore in which he had been trapped by an angry mob of demonstrators.
Protesters were also filmed kicking and cursing a woman who passed through a demonstration in Jerusalem.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews represent about 10 percent of the Israeli population and live in compliance with a strict interpretation of Jewish laws.
נערים חרדים קיצונים מהפלג הירושלמי, משתוללים ונמרחים על הכביש בצומת גהה בכניסה לבני ברק,במחאה על מעצר בן ישיבה שלא הסדיר את הדיחוי על פי חוק pic.twitter.com/skp9zMrWgw
— מוקד החדשות בטוויטר (@nthrprhsni) April 4, 2017
Some of them view military service as a source of temptation to young adults to leave the closed world of prayer and religious study.
The ultra-Orthodox are exempt from military service when studying in yeshiva religious schools. However, the issue is controversial with secular Israelis, and attempts have been made to do away with the exemption.
Regardless, they must register at the recruitment office, but some — inspired by rabbis hostile to any cooperation with the Israeli authorities — refuse to even go to the office and are considered deserters.
The Times of Israel Community.