Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox block highway in protest against IDF enlistment

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators from an extremist sect blocked traffic on a major highway near Tel Aviv during rush hour Thursday afternoon to protest efforts to impose mandatory military draft regulations on members of the Haredi community.

The protest took place on Route 4 near Bnei Brak, a major ultra-Orthodox town just east of Tel Aviv. Demonstrators marched down the highway and resisted attempts by police to clear the road as traffic backed up for miles.

The protesters were affiliated with the Jerusalem Faction, an extremist ultra-Orthodox group numbering some 60,000 members that is considered among the most hardline opponents of efforts to extend enlistment requirements to yeshiva students and other Haredi men. The group, which opposes Israel’s character as a secular Zionist state, is largely known for organizing similar protests in recent years.

Participants held signs vowing to die or serve time in jail rather than submit to the mandatory draft and called the police “Nazis” alongside other insults, according to Hebrew-language news site Ynet.

“We prefer to die rather than go to the army. Death is preferable,” one protester said in a video that was shared on social media.

“We didn’t found the state and it’s not our job to help it with its problems,” another was quoted as having said.

Police said seven protesters were arrested and that the road was reopened by 9 p.m.

Lawmakers revived a bill last week that would lower the current age of exemption from mandatory service for Haredi yeshiva students from 26 to 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription.

השתטחו על הכביש ומנעו תנועת כלי רכב: מפגינים נגד חוק הגיוס ביצעו חסימות בכביש 4, המשטרה מנסה לפנות אותם מהאזור | תיעוד @AkivaWeisz pic.twitter.com/luH8fNWR8r

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 20, 2024

Ultra-Orthodox men of military age have been able to avoid being conscripted to the Israel Defense Forces for decades by enrolling in yeshivas for Torah study and obtaining repeated one-year service deferrals until they reach the age of military exemption.

In 2017, the High Court ruled that mass exemptions to military service on a group basis are illegal and discriminatory. Successive governments have since that time tried and failed to formulate new legislation to settle the matter, while requesting repeated deferrals from the court.

The issue is especially charged given the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, in which 311 Israeli troops have been killed, as well as continued fighting with the terror group Hezbollah along Israel’s border with Lebanon, which has resulted in the deaths of 15 soldiers and reservists.

In light of the need to mobilize large numbers of soldiers, the government has backed increasing the duration of service for those in the reserves.

צועדים מצומת קוקה קולה לגהה. שוטרים לצד מפגינים. pic.twitter.com/8u0MuUOb9u

— שילה פריד???????? (@shilofreid) June 20, 2024

While many in the coalition have expressed significant reservations about the enlistment bill, all coalition MKs bar one voted in favor of it in the Knesset plenum last week, with some explaining they believed it could be salvaged in committee. It is now being prepared for the second and third readings it must pass to become law.

The governing coalition relies on support from two Haredi parties, which are pressing for both the enlistment bill and another proposed law that would change the process for appointing local rabbis, giving more power to the Chief Rabbinate at the expense of local authorities.

On Monday evening, Channel 12 reported that Aryeh Deri, leader of the Shas party, had threatened to bring down the government if the “rabbis bill” does not pass. A major newspaper associated with the other governing Haredi party, United Torah Judaism, made a similar threat.

Elana Kirsh contributed to this report.