Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews Protest Mandatory Military Service
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men on Thursday blocked a major highway in central territories occupied by Israel to protest a recent Supreme Court decision ordering young religious men to enlist for military service.
Military service is compulsory for most Jewish men and women in Israel. But politically powerful ultra-Orthodox parties have won draft exemptions for their followers that allow them instead to study in religious seminaries.
This long-standing arrangement has bred widespread resentment --a sentiment that has grown stronger during the eight-month Israeli war on Gaza. Over 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed, and tens of thousands of reservists have been activated, straining careers, businesses and family lives.
Protesters sat on the highway and lay on the ground as police lifted them up and dragged them away. Officers mounted on horseback charged into the crowd. Many demonstrators held signs and chanted “To prison! Not to the army!”
The ultra-Orthodox see their full-time religious study as their part in protecting the Zionist regime. Many fear that greater contact with secular society through the military will distance adherents from strict observance of the faith, the AP reported.
The Israeli regime’s Supreme Court this week ordered the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men, saying the system of exemptions is unequal.
The decision could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Ultra-Orthodox parties and their followers oppose any change in the system.
