Dozens of ultra-Orthodox men block highway in West Bank after draft-dodger’s arrest

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox men blocked Route 443, a main highway that runs through the West Bank, on Friday after a Haredi draft dodger was arrested at a checkpoint on the road.

The man, identified as a yeshiva student in his 20s from Ashdod, was initially stopped at the Ofer Crossing on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle, police said. Officers then also discovered he was wanted for failing to report for mandatory military service.

The demonstrators arrived “a short while later,” according to police, who said they were working “to restore order at the scene and open the route for traffic.” Route 443 is a secondary highway connecting Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The alleged draft dodger had not been transferred to the custody of the military police, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

According to the Haredi news outlet Haredim Jerusalem, friends of the detainee disputed the stolen car allegation, saying the vehicle belonged to a man who was abroad and unavailable by phone. Police said the vehicle had appeared in their systems as stolen.

The Friday protests came days after Haredi protesters blocked highways in central Israel on Monday, in opposition to another arrest of an ultra-Orthodox man for evading service in the Israel Defense Forces.

חרדים חוסמים את כביש 443 במעבר עופר במחאה על מעצר עריק – שנתפס כשהוא נוהג ברכב גנוב@daniel_grovais @VeredPelman @HGoldich pic.twitter.com/hb0rDBlBFN

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 28, 2026

Monday’s protest was the first major anti-draft demonstration in weeks, ending a period of relative quiet over the past month that coincided with yeshivas’ summer break.

The arrests and ongoing protests stem from a landmark June 2024 High Court ruling that found there was no longer any legal basis for blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students and ordered the state to begin drafting them.

Currently, approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted. Earlier this month, the Attorney General’s Office called for the state to strengthen its enforcement of draft orders, including by arresting draft evaders.

The government’s efforts to enshrine a blanket ultra-Orthodox exemption from the draft in law have drawn fierce opposition from reservists, Knesset legal advisers and much of the public.

Haredi leaders have fiercely opposed compulsory enlistment, arguing that military service threatens their religious way of life, while the issue has grown increasingly contentious amid the IDF’s wartime manpower shortage and anger among Israelis who serve in the military and reserves.

The coalition sought in July to halt arrests of Haredi draft evaders for seven months, but the High Court froze the legislation before it could take effect and later extended the freeze while considering petitions against the law.