Extremist Haredi protesters are expected to demonstrate again Sunday against military enlistment at several central locations, following the arrests of draft dodgers.
According to messages sent to the Haredi public, the protests will begin at 5 p.m. in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, with “more precise locations to be published later.” Demonstrations are also expected in Beit Shemesh, Safed and Har Yona in Nof HaGalil.
Last Thursday, Haredi protests led to major road closures. Around 5 p.m., a demonstration began near the Geha junction, leading police to block Highway 4 in both directions from Aluf Sadeh to Em HaMoshavot. Jabotinsky Road was also blocked in both directions from Hashomer Street in Bnei Brak to Hayetzira Street in Petah Tikva.
In a parallel protest in Jerusalem, demonstrators blocked the Bar-Ilan junction and threw stones at police officers. A police water cannon was brought to the scene, and officers began forcibly clearing protesters. The roads were reopened after about three hours.
Police said the demonstrations in both Bnei Brak and Jerusalem were illegal. Protesters blocked the Bar-Ilan and Geha junctions while carrying signs reading, among other things, “We will die and not enlist,” “Better to die Haredi than enlist in Kodkod,” referring to a no-uniform software and cyber track, and “We will not abandon any yeshiva student.”
In Jerusalem, protesters hung an outrageous sign reading: “Auschwitz crematoria-IDF.”
Mounted police arrived at the protest sites and clashes broke out. Two people were arrested.
One protester at Geha told ynet: “We are in a war for life, a war for religion. Enlisting in the army means going to a melting pot, an ideology that amounts to complete religious conversion. It is the opposite of Judaism. Security does not interest us. It is our money in the end, and in practice they steal from us more than we pay. We are de facto citizens here, nothing more. We have no ideological, principled or personal connection to the state. It would have been better to remain under the Mandate.”