Ultra-Orthodox set to demonstrate in Tel Aviv, jamming traffic ahead of concerts

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators affiliated with the hardline Jerusalem Faction are expected to block highways in central Israel this afternoon, causing major traffic congestion in a protest against the recent transfer of some 17 draft evaders to IDF custody.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Jerusalem Faction complained that the decision to hand over the men, who were arrested during a violent riot at the home of Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg last week, constituted the crossing of a “red line” and “a serious escalation in the obsessive persecution.”

The Jerusalem Faction, numbering some 60,000 members, regularly holds rowdy demonstrations against the military enlistment of yeshiva students.

The demonstrations are expected to snarl traffic in the Tel Aviv area, creating headaches for those planning to attend three large concerts taking place tonight, according to Channel 12 news.

Channel 12 quotes the Israel Police as stating that its traffic division “is prepared with increased forces and a wide deployment, in light of the expectation of a large number of large events and protests today in the central region” and that it will “allow the exercise of the right to protest but will not permit a violation of public order, harm to police officers, or a violation of the safety of motorists.”

Recent weeks have seen a significant uptick in ultra-Orthodox anti-conscription demonstrations. On Wednesday, protesters gathered outside prisons in major cities across the country to rally against the arrests of the draft evaders. Three protesters were arrested on suspicion of rioting and attacking police officers in Jerusalem, with police saying they “attacked officers, threw objects and refused to obey the instructions of forces at the scene.”