Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, dressed in black, demonstrated in Jerusalem on Thursday to protest against conscription, an issue that has caused great tension in Israel’s right-wing ruling coalition.
The large crowd was protesting against the absence of a law guaranteeing their right to avoid Israel’s mandatory military service, a promise long promised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Crowds of men, many wearing black hats, set pieces of tarp on fire as hundreds of police officers cordoned off several city streets. AFP correspondents reported.
Carrying signs denouncing conscription, protesters marched along the main roads leading to Jerusalem. The mass demonstration follows a recent crackdown on ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, with thousands of call-up notices sent out in recent months and several deserters jailed.
Under a rule established at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, when the ultra-Orthodox were a very small community, men who dedicate themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts receive a de facto permit.
This exemption has come under increasing pressure since the military conflict in Gaza broke out in October 2023, as the army struggles to fill its ranks.
The question of whether the exemption should be eliminated has been a long-standing point of contention in Israeli society, and Netanyahu promised that his government would pass a law enshrining the exemption. But so far he has failed to deliver.
Responding to the call of two ultra-Orthodox parties, one of which forms a key part of the ruling coalition, men traveled from across Israel today to demand the continuation of their exemptions.
Police closed roads to Jerusalem and announced the mobilization of 2,000 officers in the city.
In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the state must recruit ultra-Orthodox men and declared that their exemption had expired.
Vital support for the coalition
A parliamentary committee is now discussing a bill that is expected to end exemptions and encourage ultra-Orthodox youth who are not studying full-time to enlist.
The issue has put Netanyahu’s coalition, one of the most right-wing in the country’s history, under serious pressure.
In July, ministers from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party resigned from the cabinet over the issue, although the party did not formally leave the coalition. The other ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism, has already left both the government and the coalition.
The Sephardic Shas party, which has 11 seats in the 120-member Knesset (Israeli parliament), has warned that it will withdraw its support unless exemptions from military service are enshrined in law, a move that could bring down Netanyahu’s fragile coalition, now reduced to 60 seats.
Some ultra-Orthodox rabbis fear that mandatory military service will make young people less religious, but others accept that those who do not study sacred texts full time can enlist.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, or about 1.3 million people, and approximately 66,000 men of military age currently benefit from the exemption.
According to an army report presented to parliament in September, there has been a sharp increase in the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews enlisting despite opposition from their leaders, but the numbers remain low, a few hundred over the past two years.
