From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Footage shows clashes during road-blocking by extremist Haredi protesters
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators affiliated with the so-called Jerusalem Faction clashed earlier with motorists while blocking several highway intersections in central Israel.
Footage posted on social media shows protesters and commuters throwing water at each other. In an incident near the military prison at Beit Lid, Haredim yell “shiksa” (a derogatory Yiddish moniker for a non-Jewish woman) and pour water on a woman who kicks a protester.
תיעוד מבית ליד: המפגינים החרדים קראו לעברה של נהגת "שיקסע" ושפכו עליה מים, היא יצאה מרכבה ובעטה באחד מהם @daniel_elazar pic.twitter.com/i4defREWpa
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 20, 2025
Earlier this week, the group called on its adherents to take to the streets today as part of a “day of rage” in protest of the increasingly frequent arrests of Haredi draft evaders.
A hardline ultra-Orthodox group numbering some 60,000 members, the Jerusalem Faction is considered among the most conservative of Haredi factions and regularly demonstrates raucously against the enlistment of yeshiva students.
Another video from the scene shows Haredim surrounding a car trying to get through their blockade. It manages to pass, but one protester climbs onto the roof and rides the car down the highway.
תיעוד די מטורף של צלמנו עידו ארז: מפגין עולה על גג רכב שחוצה את המפגינים, ומתיישב עליו תוך כדי נסיעה. pic.twitter.com/GRA3u16ROV
— שילה פריד???????? (@shilofreid) August 20, 2025
The mainstream ultra-Orthodox leadership has called for an international day of prayer against conscription tomorrow. Prayer rallies are expected across Israel, with mass gatherings in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem slated to take place.
However, according to Hebrew-language press reports, mainstream leaders of the so-called Lithuanian branch of non-Hasidic ultra-Orthodoxy have backed away from issuing a public call for protest, going back on commitments to their Hasidic counterparts.
The Bnei Brak religious council, a taxpayer-funded government body, has been listed as one of the backers of an anti-enlistment event tomorrow morning.
The event, set to take place at the central city’s Yeshua L’yehuda yeshiva, will consist of ideological encouragement for “the holy and mighty yeshiva and kollel students in the face of the conscription decrees,” a promotion for the event states, using Biblical language to reference soldiers and other fighting men.
The Times of Israel Community.