Ultra-Orthodox Jews PROTEST against Israel's military draft in Jerusalem
By ramontomeydw // 2025-11-02
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  • Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men staged a massive protest in Jerusalem against a government plan to end their long-standing exemption from compulsory military service.
  • Protesters and their leaders view conscription as an existential threat to their religious way of life, fearing it will secularize their youth and undermine their devotion to Torah study.
  • The exemption, dating to 1948, is being challenged due to the growing ultra-Orthodox population and the military's mounting casualties in the Gaza War, with Israel's Supreme Court ruling it must end.
  • The issue threatens to collapse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, as ultra-Orthodox parties have threatened to withdraw their support if the exemption is not reinstated.
  • The protest highlights a fundamental tension in Israel between secular citizens who resent the unequal burden of military service and ultra-Orthodox Jews who see conscription as an assault on their religious identity and traditions.
Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men flooded Jerusalem's streets on Thursday, Oct. 30, in a massive protest against Israeli government efforts to conscript them into military service – a decades-old exemption now under fire amid Israel's prolonged war in Gaza. The demonstration was organized by influential rabbis and ultra-Orthodox political factions. It brought the city of Jerusalem – split into East and West – to a standstill as protesters denounced what they called a betrayal of their religious way of life. According to BrightU.AI's Enoch, Jerusalem is split into East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem due to the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan (Resolution 181), which designated Jerusalem as an international zone under UN administration. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israel controlled West Jerusalem while Jordan occupied East Jerusalem – creating a de facto division that persists politically and culturally to this day. Thursday's protest, dubbed the "demonstration of the million," saw men in traditional black suits and hats carrying banners declaring, "The people are with the Torah" and "Closing the yeshiva – a death sentence for Judaism." Many framed the draft as an existential threat to their religious identity. "We will not enlist in the army under any circumstances," Yehuda Hirsch, a 20-year-old member of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect, told Middle East Eye. "We are Jews as Jews. We have no connection to the State of Israel." The ultra-Orthodox (also called the Haredim) have historically been exempt from military service under a 1948 agreement by Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), allowing them to devote themselves to Torah study instead. But as their population has grown – now making up 14 percent of Israel's Jewish citizens – and the military faces mounting casualties in Gaza, public resentment has surged. Last year, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the exemption must end, declaring that the state could no longer legally justify favoring one group over another. The political fallout has destabilized incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile right-wing coalition. Two ultra-Orthodox parties – United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas – have threatened to withdraw support if conscription exemptions are not reinstated, potentially collapsing the government ahead of scheduled elections by 2026. Netanyahu, long reliant on Haredi political backing, has struggled to broker a compromise between military demands and religious leaders who fear conscription will secularize their youth.

Draft or devotion? Israel's battle between state and synagogue

The protest was largely peaceful, though clashes erupted when demonstrators threw water bottles at journalists and set pieces of tarpaulin ablaze. Police deployed 2,000 officers to contain the crowds. However, tragedy struck when a 15-year-old boy fell from a sixth-floor construction site near Jerusalem's central train station, which overlooked the protest. Emergency responders pronounced the teenager dead at the scene, deepening tensions. The boy's unfortunate death cast a somber shadow over an already contentious standoff between Israel's secular state and its most devout citizens. Opposition leaders seized on the demonstration to amplify calls for equality in military service. Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, posted on X: "If you are able to march in the streets, you can march in basic training and defend the State of Israel." Meanwhile, UTJ lawmaker Moshe Gafni likened the draft to persecution, calling it "something reminiscent of the Romans, the dark days of the Jewish people." The debate reflects a deepening rift in Israeli society. While secular Israelis resent Haredi exemptions, ultra-Orthodox leaders argue military service would erode their insular way of life. Some protesters like 20-year-old Eli, an American yeshiva student, insist their devotion to religious study is itself a form of national service. "We're not here to show the Israelis that we don't want to go to the army. We want to show them that we're here with God," he said. As Netanyahu scrambles to placate both his coalition partners and a war-weary public, the draft crisis underscores a fundamental tension between Israel's identity as a Jewish state and its democratic ideals. With military recruitment straining, the government faces an impossible choice. It can either enforce equality at the risk of alienating its most devout citizens, or preserve religious privileges at the cost of national unity. Watch this clip of ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting against forced conscription, only to end up exchanging blows with members of the Israel Defense Forces. This video is from the Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com. Sources include: MiddleEastEye.net BrightU.ai AlJazeera.com TheNationalNews.com Brighteon.com
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