They cut off the Jerusalem Bridge, Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrate in rejection of military service

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) demonstrated in West Jerusalem, rejecting military service and closing the Jerusalem Mast Suspension Bridge, while the Israeli police confronted them using waste water trucks and arrested one of them.

On Monday evening, the Israeli police confronted hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews who demonstrated in West Jerusalem to reject military service, and used waste water trucks to disperse them and arrested one of them.

According to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, hundreds of Haredim blocked the roads at the intersection of Sari Yisrael and Jaffa Streets in Jerusalem this evening (Monday) in protest against the possibility of pushing through the conscription law.

The recruitment of "Haredim", who evade military service under the pretext of devoting themselves to studying the Torah, has always been a thorny issue in Israeli society.

Recently, the controversy returned to the forefront after the right-wing government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, sought to approve a draft law excluding the Haredim from military service, and increasing the period of compulsory service from 32 months to 36 months, which was met with widespread rejection from the opposition led by Yair Lapid, who called for the preparation of a law. Recruitment requires the Haredim to perform military service like others.

In today's demonstrations, the Haredim tried to close the "Strings Bridge" (Jerusalem's Mast Suspension Bridge) at the entrance to the city of Jerusalem, according to "Yedioth Ahronoth."

According to the newspaper, some protesters sat on the road, and others waved banners with phrases written on them such as, “Take us to prison, not to the army,” and “We die and do not enlist.”

For its part, the Israeli police said in a statement: “After the rioters did not comply with the instructions of the police officers at the scene, and rioted, blocking a central axis at the entrance to the city with their bodies, the forces began to evacuate them and repel them by force.”

She added: "Unfortunately, we are once again facing a reprehensible and ugly act, as some rioters who confronted police officers and border guard fighters shouted slogans such as: Nazis, die in Gaza, and you terrorists."

Last week, the rabbi of the Sephardic sect, Yitzhak Yosef, said in media statements: “If they force us to join the army, all of us (the Haredim) will travel outside the country. We buy tickets and go.”

According to the Israel Democracy Institute (an independent research institute), the Haredi population in Israel is about 1,335,000 people, or 13.6 percent of the total population.

The percentage of youth up to the age of 19 (conscription age) among the Haredim is 58 percent, compared to 31 percent among the general Jewish population, according to the same source.