An estimated 200,000 Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators gathered in Jerusalem on Thursday to protest Israel’s military conscription policy, with clashes with police leading to numerous injuries.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, reported 56 individuals sustained injuries. Additionally, a police officer was hurt by stones thrown by the protesters.
The protest disrupted key routes into the capital, as participants from various parts of the country united against initiatives to draft Ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men into the Israel Defense Forces. The demonstration occasionally became violent as law enforcement sought to clear obstructed highways and re-establish control.
Central to the escalating tensions is a decades-old exemption permitting Ultra-Orthodox men engaged in full-time religious seminary studies to bypass military service — a policy widely perceived by many Israelis as profoundly inequitable.
While military service is obligatory for the majority of Jewish men and women, Haredi Jews have historically benefited from an exemption, a prerogative established at Israel’s inception. They contend that their lifestyle, which revolves around Torah study and communal religious observance, is incompatible with full military duty. Their concerns include conscription potentially eroding their religious identity, exposing them to secular influences, and dismantling their established communal frameworks.
Given the military’s engagements on multiple fronts over the last two years, it has experienced increasing personnel shortfalls, leading to renewed pushes to abolish the exemption. The Supreme Court last year deemed the existing arrangement unconstitutional, directing the government to enact a new conscription statute.
The Supreme Court’s decision has significantly destabilized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government. His Ultra-Orthodox partners — the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties — withdrew from the government in July, alleging he had betrayed their religious constituency. Parliament has not yet reached a compromise acceptable to both Haredi leaders and the military.
Opposition figures publicly denounced the violence. Yair Lapid stated on X, “If you are able to march in the streets, you are able to march in basic training and defend the State of Israel.” Benny Gantz, referencing footage of an assault on a female reporter, commented, “There is nothing Jewish about this conduct.”