Thousands sit in traffic as Haredi protesters cut off central highways, block railroad

At least two protesters were injured as thousands of Haredi men blocked central Israel highways and railroads for about two hours Thursday night in the latest protest against the arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders.

First responders said the two demonstrators, including a 93-year-old, were hit by cars in separate incidents along the central demonstration on Route 4, which passes near the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak and was closed to traffic because of the protests.

The demonstrations in central Israel were called by the extremist Jerusalem Faction, after police on Wednesday transferred to IDF custody 19 draft dodgers who were arrested at a Haredi riot last week outside the home of Supreme Court deputy chief Noam Sohlberg. Similar protests were held outside detention centers in Jerualem and Tel Aviv on Wednesday night.

Many participants in Thursday’s demonstrations were shuttled in from Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and other Haredi population centers.

Traffic on Thursday night in central Israel was already expected to be bogged down by hordes of fans traveling to watch mega-stars Omer Adam and Eyal Golan, as well as Ben Tzur, perform at stadiums in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva, respectively.

Anticipating the chaos, police urged commuters to avoid driving in central Israel. People headed to Ben Gurion Airport were likewise urged to take the train rather than traveling by road.

But by the early evening, trains in Tel Aviv came to a halt after protesters descended onto the tracks. Hundreds of passengers on a train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, many of them headed to the concerts, were forced to disembark at Ben Gurion Airport.

Police announced later that the highways had reopened, and Jerusalem Faction leaders said the protesters were “receiving the order to disperse.”

The Faction, numbering some 60,000 members, regularly holds raucous and violent demonstrations against the military enlistment of yeshiva students and operates a “national alert system” to mobilize wildcat street action when someone spots a draft dodger being arrested.

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.”

The protests are escalating against the backdrop of a fierce national debate over the blanket exemptions from military service long afforded to Haredi men. A High Court ruling declared in 2024 that Haredi men must enlist, and the debate over enlistment has gained urgency amid the multi-front war Israel has fought since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.

The Israel Defense Forces have warned repeatedly of an urgent manpower shortage amid the fighting. But Haredi leaders have continued to push for the exemptions to be enshrined in law, claiming that army service is a threat to their way of life and seeking to have the state view Torah study as service on par with military duty.

Over the past two years, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community following the High Court ruling. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as evaders and being subject to arrest or other sanctions.

Ahead of Thursday’s demonstrations, Channel 12 quoted the Israel Police  as stating that its traffic division was “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.”

Police closed Route 4 to traffic in both directions ahead of ultra-Orthodox demonstrations expected to draw thousands of protesters to central Israel.

Haredi protesters brought cars to a standstill on Routes 1, 4 and 6, three of the country’s biggest traffic arteries, as well as on Tel Aviv’s central Ayalon Highway.

Haredi protesters also blocked traffic in the southern town of Netivot, police said. One protester could be seen in footage from Netivot sitting in front of a car holding a sign that heralded “the new equation: Young man is detained = road is blocked.”

Footage from blocked roads showed protesters clashing with officers.

Other footage from the Ben Shemen Interchange, which connects Routes 1 and 6, showed Haredi men sitting in front of cars and wearing yellow stars, akin to those Nazis forced Jews to wear in the Holocaust. The stars donned on Thursday night bore the word “deserter” instead of “Jew.”

Police clash with ultra-Orthodox protesters, some of them wearing Holocaust-inspired yellow stars, at a Haredi demonstration against military service at the Ben Shemen Interchange in central Israel, June 11, 2026. (Israel Police)

Woman who rammed protesters said to turn herself in

Channel 12 reported that a woman turned herself into police after ramming into Haredi protesters on Route 4’s Geha Junction, at the entrance to Bnei Brak.

The woman reportedly claimed she stepped on the gas and tore through the crowd, injuring a man, as she tried to flee when protesters cursed her and stoned her car.

She continued on her way until reaching a police checkpoint on the road where she stopped and admitted to having tore through the crowd. She was being questioned by Tel Aviv District police investigators, the outlet said.

Medics said the man, aged 93, suffered a head injury and was hospitalized in moderate to serious condition.

A young man was also moderately wounded at Ganot Junction, farther south on Route 4, after a car crashed into him, medics said. Police did not immediately comment.