30 arrested as ultra-Orthodox army draft protesters block major highway

Thirty ultra-Orthodox protesters were arrested Thursday after they threw rocks and tear gas at police officers and blocked a major central Israeli highway during a demonstration against the army draft, police said.

Hundreds took part in the demonstration that was initiated by the so-called Jerusalem Faction, a radical ultra-Orthodox faction that has spearheaded protests. It was billed as an outcry against the sentencing to 45 days in military prison of an ultra-Orthodox draft dodger, Hadashot news channel reported.

Protesters gathered on Ze’ev Jabotinsky Street in the largely ultra-Orthodox city of  Bnei Barak, then went on to block traffic in both directions on Route 4, a key artery that has been blocked in previous demonstrations.

The road was closed for more than three hours before police manged to open it again.

Police said the highway was blocked between the Aluf Sade and Morasha interchanges. Drivers were directed to find alternative routes around the area.

While the issue of ultra-Orthodox enlistment has been a contentious one in Israel –revolving around a decades-old debate as to whether young ultra-Orthodox men studying in yeshivas, or seminaries, should be called up for compulsory military service like the rest of Israel’s Jewish population — these protests are over the Jerusalem Faction’s refusal to have any connection with the military.

While ultra-Orthodox Israelis are exempted from enlistment, they are required to report to enlistment offices in order to sign a deferral of service, which Jerusalem Faction rabbinic leaders order their students not to do.

Tensions are high in the ultra-Orthodox population over legislation being pushed by the community’s lawmakers to exempt religious seminary students from compulsory military service. After reaching the age of 18, men must serve for 32 months and women for 24. That bill threatened to bring down the government earlier this month after infighting saw parties issuing competing ultimatums over remaining in the coalition.

In September, the High Court of Justice threw out a law exempting ultra-Orthodox men engaged in religious study from military service, on the grounds that it undermined the principle of equality before the law.

The court suspended its decision for a year to allow for a new arrangement to be put in place, giving the government the option to pass a new law.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has rejected the demand of the ultra-Orthodox parties to craft their own bill on the subject, saying it is the responsibility of the Defense Ministry alone. A conscription bill by the ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas won preliminary approval last week in the Knesset, but will be replaced next month, when the Knesset returns from recess, by a new conscription bill to be drafted in cooperation with the Defense Ministry.

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Ultra-Orthodox Israelis have for decades enjoyed a blanket exemption from army service. Recent attempts to cater to ultra-Orthodox recruits have been met with some success, rising from some 300 ultra-Orthodox enlistees each year a decade ago to some 3,000 last year. But many ultra-Orthodox soldiers still face harassment, threats, and assault when they go home on leave to ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.

Protests against the ultra-Orthodox draft have also been held in Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem where demonstrators have often clashed with police, leading to arrests.