‘Collapsing under burden’: Religious women carry stretchers at Jerusalem rally backing Haredi draft

A group of religious women rally at the entrance to Jerusalem in support of the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox men into the Israeli military and against efforts to pass new legislation regulating exemptions for yeshiva students.

The protesters carry stretchers to symbolize the soldiers who carry the burden of military service, and hold signs with slogans including, “Collapsing under the burden,” “And your brothers will go to war and you will sit here,” and “He who believes (in the Torah) does not dodge the draft.”

A bill seeking to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment is currently stuck in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee committee, where Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who chairs the body, has said it will only pass if lawmakers can reach a “broad consensus” on the matter.

The legislation follows a High Court ruling in June that the government must conscript Haredim in the IDF unless a new bill is passed.

"דרוש חילוף תחת האלונקה": מאות נשים מהמגזר הדתי לאומי בהפגנה בירושלים הקוראת לגיוס חרדים לצבא@hod_barel
(צילום: מאיר אליפור) pic.twitter.com/kshbHGexgk

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) November 11, 2024