Published On 22/10/2025
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Last update: 22:35 (Mecca time)
On Wednesday evening, thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews closed roads in central, northern and southern Israel, in protest against the arrest of conscription evaders from the sect, and in refusal of military service.
The Haredim continue their protests against conscription into the army following the decision of the Supreme Court (the highest judicial body) on June 25, 2024, obliging them to conscript and prohibiting the provision of financial aid to religious institutions whose students refuse military service.
The Haredim constitute about 13% of Israel’s population of 10 million people, and they refuse military service under the pretext of devoting their lives to studying the Torah, stressing that integration into secular society constitutes a threat to their religious identity and the continuity of their society.
The voice of senior rabbis, whose statements are seen as a religious fatwa for the Haredim, is louder in calling for the rejection of conscription, and even tearing up the summons orders.
The Hebrew Channel 10 (exclusively) said that thousands of Haredim are demonstrating this evening, Wednesday, in several locations throughout Israel, after the military police arrested 3 religious school students last night.
The demonstrators took to the streets of Bnei Brak, Jerusalem (center), and Safed (north), and closed the main streets, demanding the release of young men and the cancellation of conscription orders for religious school students, according to the same source.
Clashes
The demonstrations are concentrated on Highway No. 4 near the city of Bnei Brak, on Jabotinsky Street in the city, in Beit Shemesh (center) in Safed, and in Kikar Hashabat (Sabbath Square) in Jerusalem.
The channel said that protests developed on Bar Lev Street in Jerusalem, which included closing the vehicle road and the light train track, and throwing stones at passing vehicles.
She added that large Israeli police forces worked to disperse the demonstrators, noting that in some locations clashes were reported between the demonstrators and the police.
For its part, the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the demonstrators on Jabotinsky Street in Bnei Brak chanted during the demonstration, “The army is worse than death. We go to prison, not to the army.”
The newspaper “Israel Hayom” said that hundreds of Haredim also demonstrated at Military Prison No. 10 at the Beit Lid military base, near the city of Kfar Yona (central), to protest the arrest of conscription evaders by the military police.
For decades, Haredi Jews have been able to avoid conscription when they reach the age of 18, by obtaining repeated postponements under the pretext of studying in religious institutes, until they reach the exemption age, which is currently 26 years.
The opposition accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to pass a law that exempts the Haredim from conscription, in response to the demands of the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, which withdrew earlier this year from the government, but are preparing to return as soon as a law that meets their demands is passed.