Israeli police arrested a number of Haredi demonstrators (French)

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) demonstrated in occupied Jerusalem, rejecting military service, chanting slogans including, “We die and do not enlist in the army.” Hundreds of them blocked roads at the intersection of Sari Yisrael and Jaffa Streets in Jerusalem on Monday evening, in protest against the possibility of pushing through the conscription law.

The recruitment of Haredim, who evade military service under the pretext of devoting themselves to studying the Torah, has always been a thorny issue in Israeli society.

The controversy returned to the forefront recently after the right-wing government led by Benjamin Netanyahu sought to approve a draft law excluding the Haredim from military service, and increasing the period of compulsory service from 32 to 36 months, while also applying this to current conscripts.

The project also stipulates that reserve soldiers be released from service at the age of 46 instead of 40 as is currently the case, and that reserve soldiers serve 42 days annually instead of one to two weeks currently.

Netanyahu's government includes two Haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism.

Today, the Haredi demonstrators tried to close a main bridge in Jerusalem, and the Israeli police confronted them, using waste water trucks to disperse them and arresting one of them.

The demonstrators also raised banners reading: “Take us to prison, not to the army,” “We have the Torah, without the Torah there is no right,” and “We die and do not enlist.”

For its part, the police said that after “the rioters did not comply with the instructions of the police officers at the place, and they rioted and blocked a central axis at the entrance to the city with their bodies, the forces began to evacuate them and repel them by force.”

Denial of service

She added that she was once again facing a "condemnable and ugly act," as some rioters shouted slogans including, "Nazis, die in Gaza, and you terrorists."

In response to these demonstrations, the Mothers on the Front movement said, "Whoever does not want to serve in the army must leave Israel."

The Sephardic sect's rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, said last week, "If they force us to join the army, all of us (the Haredim) will travel outside the country."

According to the Israeli Democracy Institute, the Haredi population in Israel is about 1,335,000, or 13.6% of the total population.

The percentage of youth up to the age of 19 (conscription age) among the Haredim is 58%, compared to 31% among the general Jewish population.

Defense Minister Yoav Galant said at the beginning of this month that he would not allow the introduction of the “conscription law” aimed at obliging them to military service in the army, without obtaining the approval of all parties participating in the government coalition.

Gallant (center) required obtaining the approval of all parties to propose the service law (the Israeli government)

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Since 2017, successive governments have failed to reach a consensus law requiring the recruitment of Haredim, after the Supreme Court annulled the law that was enacted in 2015 exempting them from military service, and justified this by saying that the exemption violates the “principle of equality.”

Since then, the Knesset has continued to extend the exemption for Haredim from military service.

A state of anticipation prevails in Israeli society, especially in light of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, as the order issued by successive governments granting Haredi Jews exemption from military service in exchange for studying the Torah in Jewish religious schools is supposed to expire at the end of this month.

The Supreme Court gave Netanyahu's government until March 31 to reach an understanding regarding recruiting the Haredim and obliging them to military service, as the number of those who can be assigned currently reaches 157,000 people, but the Israeli army does not recruit them, and they are considered - according to the law - to be deserters. From military service.

This controversy comes at a time when the Israeli occupation army has been waging, since October 7, 2023, a devastating aggression against Gaza, in which it has suffered many losses of life and equipment in the face of the Palestinian resistance, which has been confronting it for the sixth month, which has increased the dilemma of the army and the government. Netanyahu.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies