Dozens of protesters in Jerusalem demand Haredi men enlist in military

A few dozen protesters gather at the entrance to Jerusalem to demand that the government conscript ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF, amid increased calls to pass a law drafting Haredim.

The demonstrators, mostly Orthodox women, are protesting on the edge of a Haredi neighborhood while holding signs that read: “One who believes does not draft-dodge” and similar slogans.

“These young women that are here, their husbands are all on reserve duty,” says protest organizer Esthie Voltz to The Times of Israel.

She adds that her son-in-law — who is 45 with four children — was fired from his job after spending 13 months in the reserves.

Organizer Tehila Elitzur, speaking to the crowd, attests to mounting frustration amid the general public due to the lopsided burden religious Zionist, secular, and Druze populations have shouldered during the Gaza war.

She calls on the government to “lighten the burden of reserve duty” by passing a draft law, adding that the IDF suffers a severe personnel shortage.

“These groups [secular, religious Zionist, and Druze] are already conscripted to the furthest extent they can be; it must come from the Haredim,” she says.

Protesters recite the prayer for the State of Israel and sing the Israeli national anthem to conclude their demonstration, then disband.