JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
A decades-old exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from compulsory military service is a deeply divisive issue in Israel at the heart of a cabinet crisis that could lead to an early election. A preliminary vote in parliament on a new bill that would maintain the exemption is expected on Tuesday. One faction in Prime Minister Benjamin…
(JTA) — Some 63 Israeli high school students signed a public letter declaring that they will refuse to be drafted into the Israel Defense Forces. The letter, published on Thursday in the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Acharonot, was addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Education Minister Naftali Bennett and IDF Chief of…
On Monday evening October 23, there were big protests in Jerusalem in which approximately 2,000 Charedi Israelis blocked traffic and stopped local and regional public transportation from functioning properly for a few hours. These actions took place in response to the arrest by the IDF’s military police of two Charedi Israeli men who did not…
An ultra-Orthodox group is threatening to disrupt operations at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport during the busy Passover holiday week with protests against the drafting of yeshiva students into the army. A body calling itself “the committee for the rescue of the world of Torah” took out ads in ultra-Orthodox media outlets, saying that the planned…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Thousands of haredi Orthodox men demonstrated against Israel’s military draft in the streets of a Jerusalem neighborhood. The protesters filled the streets of Jerusalem’s Geulah neighborhood, located near the central bus station, on Tuesday evening. The Associated Press put the crowd total at about 10,000. Though the protest was unauthorized, police chose…
Israeli lawmakers approved an amendment that further postpones the mandatory military conscription of haredi Orthodox men and removes the penalties for not enlisting. The amendment to the Equal Service law originally passed in 2014 was approved on its second and third readings late Monday night by a vote of a 49 to 36. Lawmakers from…
Israel Police arrested about 40 haredi Orthodox protesters in the southern city of Ashdod during a demonstration on behalf of four yeshiva students arrested for missing their army induction. Hundreds of haredi men and boys protested Monday in Ashdod, Jerusalem and at major intersections in the area against the arrest of the yeshiva students, who…
About 500 haredi Orthodox men demonstrated in Jerusalem against the arrest of a yeshiva student who ignored a call-up notice for army service. The protesters, who also took to the streets in the predominately haredi city of Bnei Brak, blocked intersections, set fire to trash bins, and threw rocks and bottles at police on Thursday…
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