‘We will not enlist in the enemy army’: Thousands of Haredim protest ultra-Orthodox draft

Thousands of Haredim are protesting in Jerusalem’s Shabbat Square, against the conscription of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the Israel Defense Forces.

According to the Walla new site, some of the demonstrators belong to the extremist Jerusalem Faction, which numbers some 60,000 members and regularly demonstrates against the enlistment of yeshiva students.

Protesters carry signs reading, “We will not enlist in the enemy army,” and “We will die and not enlist.”

Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life and fear that those who do enlist will be secularized.

The protest, one of many in recent months, comes in response to the High Court of Justice’s landmark ruling last week that ordered the military to begin conscripting ultra-Orthodox men and halt funding to yeshivas that do not comply.

The High Court’s decision means that after decades of political and societal controversy and strife over the issue, there is now a legal obligation for young Haredi men to join their Jewish Israeli comrades and serve in the military.