Severe traffic disruptions spread across Israel on Wednesday as thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews launched a nationwide convoy protest against efforts to draft yeshiva students into military service.
The demonstrators, traveling in slow-moving car convoys from dozens of locations in 19 cities across the country, planned to drive to Military Prison 10 near Kfar Yona, encircle the facility and then return.
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Traffic backs up on a highway as ultra-Orthodox protesters drive in slow-moving convoys against plans to draft yeshiva students
(Photo: National Roads Company)
The protest was organized by the Ger Hasidic dynasty, Israel's largest Hasidic group and the dominant force within the Agudat Israel faction of the United Torah Judaism party. Organizers instructed participants to drive at a steady speed of about 50 kilometers per hour (31 mph) while maintaining extra distance between vehicles to avoid accidents.
Rabbi Shlomo Machpud, a member of Shas' Council of Torah Sages, joined one of the convoys departing from Bnei Brak in a vehicle decorated with signs reading, "Enough! There is no path without the path of the Torah."
In Jerusalem, where Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of United Torah Judaism and a senior figure in Agudat Israel, was present, some vehicles displayed posters depicting National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wearing military police uniforms alongside the slogan, "The Jews' No. 1 enemy."
Bnei Brak Mayor Hanoch Zeibert said the protests would continue until the state restores the long-standing exemption for full-time Torah students.
Ultra-Orthodox protesters place signs on a car during a convoy protest against military draft efforts. One poster depicts National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in military police uniform with the slogan, 'The Jews’ No. 1 enemy'
(Photo: Idan Bloemhof)
"We will stop the protests when they bring back the arrangement that existed for 70 years, under which those who study receive exemptions," he said.
Meanwhile, residents of Kfar Yona said they planned counterprotests aimed at preventing the demonstrators from reaching the prison. Mayor Albert Taieb said he had spoken with local residents and would meet Defense Minister Israel Katz next week to discuss relocating the facility.
The convoys departed from cities including Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Ashdod, Beit Shemesh, Elad, Tiberias, Safed, Netanya and Haifa.
The National Roads Company reported heavy congestion beginning in the afternoon, particularly on Highways 1 and 4. Police traffic officials warned that Highway 6, Israel's main north-south artery, along with several other major roads, could experience severe delays as the convoys merged.
Ultra-Orthodox men attach a protest sign to a vehicle before joining a convoy against plans to draft yeshiva students
(Photo: Shaul Golan)
The protest received extensive support in Hamodia, the newspaper affiliated with Agudat Israel, which declared that "many thousands" would participate and carried headlines including "Impossible to remain silent."
The demonstrations come amid growing tensions within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition over legislation regulating military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews. Most Jewish Israelis are required to perform mandatory military service, but decades-old exemptions for full-time yeshiva students have become increasingly controversial, particularly since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Goldknopf dismissed a recent compromise reportedly reached between Netanyahu, Shas leader Aryeh Deri and Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni, saying it would not adequately protect yeshiva students.
"There will come a day when we turn the country upside down," Goldknopf told Kol Barama radio. "The entire country will be like a burning fire. Do they think they can turn us into servants? The time will come when everyone will go out and protest across the country. We will take the prisons and turn them into yeshivas."