Two rioters detained for assaulting cops at ultra-Orthodox protest against IDF draft
Firefighters, reporter also attacked at Jerusalem demonstration; IDF officers said to fear Haredi exemption from service is contributing to spike in reservists’ refusal to show up
Two rioters were detained for assaulting law enforcement after clashes broke out at an ultra-Orthodox demonstration against the military draft in Jerusalem on Thursday, police said, adding that one demonstrator received medical treatment after he violently resisted arrest.
According to police, dozens of protesters blocked the capital’s Shmeul HaNavi Street after being told to clear the road, taunted officers, and tossed stones and other items, shattering windows on buses and breaking the visor on an officer’s helmet. Police said six officers were hurt responding to the riots.
The Israel Fire and Rescue Service said Haredi protesters also attacked firefighters who were working to extinguish objects set ablaze during the protest. The fire service said demonstrators pushed five burning dumpsters toward the firefighters and threw objects at them.
Army Radio reporter Yoeli Brim was also assaulted, as shown by footage on social media. Brim, who was covering the protest, published footage of ultra-Orthodox protesters dismantling metal fences and tossing them onto the road.
The protest came amid reported concern in the military that reservists will refuse en masse to show up for duty as Israel steps up operations in Gaza. According to an Haaretz report, military officials have said part of the reason for the reservists’ refusal was the government’s failure to draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.
Outgoing IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari highlighted the issue in a farewell speech on Thursday, saying that he had met with scores of soldiers and “saw them struggling under the weight of the war.”
“All segments of society must help shoulder the load,” said Hagari. “We need more soldiers in the IDF right now, not in a few years. The war is happening on now.”
Israel has vowed to escalate the war in Gaza since renewing hostilities there on March 18 after a two-month ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.
Tens of thousands of reservists were expected to be called up, but IDF officials cited by Haaretz on Thursday reported a rise in the expected number of no-shows due to fatigue, anger at government policies, and unclarity on the goal of the renewed fighting.
A senior reservist commander told Haaretz that brigade and battalion leaders are handling numerous cases of reservists refusing to report for duty. The primary reason cited, according to the commander, was a perception that the government was not doing enough to free the remaining 59 hostages.
Other reasons commonly cited were concern over the government’s plans to weaken the judiciary and codify the ultra-Orthodox community’s exemption from military service, the commander said.
A reserve officer cited by Haaretz said sheer exhaustion, among both fighter and commander, was another reason reservists were refusing to show up despite having served for hundreds of days over the past year.
Police clash with ultra-Orthodox protesters during a demonstration against military service in Jerusalem, March 27, 2025. (Police spokesperson)
Among those refusing to serve is combat navigator Alon Gur, who publicly announced his resignation from the Air Force last week after 16 years of service. “The line was crossed,” he wrote online, accusing the government of prioritizing politics over human lives. Gur’s subsequent dismissal from the IDF has prompted other reservists to follow suit, raising concerns within the military leadership.
As of February, 85% of reservists were showing up for duty, according to the IDF. By contrast, more than 100% of reservists reported for duty when the war was sparked on October 7, 2023, after thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. The call-up of reservists at the time was the largest in Israel’s history.
The war, which has seen hundreds of troops killed and hundreds of thousands of reservists mobilized, has underscored the already contentious issue of ultra-Orthodox draft evasion.
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life and fear that those who enlist will be secularized.
A High Court of Justice ruling last year found that there is no legal basis for the decades-long blanket exemption from military service for Haredi yeshiva students. Ultra-Orthodox parties, which are key coalition partners of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have since demanded legislation to officially carve out some form of the exemption.
The anger reached a fever pitch on Sunday when footage emerged of Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, of the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism faction, dancing at a wedding dancing to a song that urged refusal to serve in the military of the “infidel” state. Goldknopf later apologized.
Sam Sokol contributed to this report.
