Ultra-Orthodox Protesters Block Roads and Trains Across Israel Over Military Draft

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated across Israel on Monday, blocking major roads and train lines and setting cars on fire to protest mandatory military enlistment. The protests, which police struggled to control with water cannons and mounted officers, largely paralyzed the center of the country, including Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv metro area.

Police reported that demonstrators blocked key intersections and attacked a soldier who got off a bus near a protest.

Military service is compulsory for most Jewish men and women in Israel, but ultra-Orthodox parties have long secured exemptions for their followers to study in religious seminaries instead. Those exemptions are now under threat as the military faces severe manpower shortages due to ongoing operations in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and a war with Iran.

Many Israelis are frustrated with a system that allows ultra-Orthodox men to avoid service while others serve multiple reserve tours.

The issue is tearing apart Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition. Ultra-Orthodox parties have withdrawn their support, potentially moving elections up by several weeks this fall.

Each year, about 13,000 ultra-Orthodox men turn 18, but less than 10% enlist, according to a parliamentary committee. The military is now looking to extend mandatory service periods.

Demonstrator Israel Tropper said, "This public is determined, they see this as a war for their lives. From their perspective, going into the Israeli army means giving up religion." Some protesters held signs reading "We would rather die as Jews than live as Zionists" and "We refuse to serve an army for the sake of the Zionist religion."

The ultra-Orthodox make up roughly 13% of Israeli society and are the fastest-growing sector. Exemptions date back to 1948, when a small number of students sought to revive Jewish scholarship after the Holocaust.

The Supreme Court ruled the exemptions illegal in 2017, but repeated extensions have kept them in place. For many in the secular Jewish majority, military service is a rite of passage and a melting pot, while the insular ultra-Orthodox community fears it will expose young people to secular influences.