Israel police clash with ultra-Orthodox Jews over military service

Clashes broke out near Tel Aviv on Sunday evening between Israeli police and ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim, who were protesting against the drafting of 1,000 members of the community for military service, Yedioth Ahronoth has reported.

The clashes took place after Haredim protesters blocked a main road in Bnei Brak because the occupation army sent 1,000 military draft orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community in the city. Such orders, said the newspaper, are seen by Haredim as “an assault on their traditions and way of life.”

It reported that the draft orders are part of 7,000 expected to be issued to the Haredim in the coming days. They were approved by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant before his dismissal earlier this month.

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called for denying funds and passports to the Haredim if they refuse to serve in the armed forces.

The Haredim oppose service in the Israeli military, despite a Supreme Court ruling last June that imposed conscription on them, like other Israeli citizens.

Parties in the government coalition are demanding the enactment of a law to ensure that about 60,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews continue to be exempt from military service, amidst the opposition’s rejection of such a “law of draft evasion”. In recent days, the opposition, led by Lapid, has called explicitly on Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz to issue draft orders to the Haredim for military service when he officially assumes his duties.

The Israeli army is suffering from a shortage of troops amid almost daily losses in the genocidal war that it has been waging with US support on the Gaza Strip since 7 October last year, as well as the war it launched in Lebanon on 23 September.

Israel has occupied Arab land in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine for decades, and rejects the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the pre-1967 war borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

READ: Israel imprisons Palestinian journalist from occupied West Bank