Ultra-Orthodox protest at military recruitment office
A group of ultra-Orthodox Israelis have staged a protest outside a military recruitment office in Jerusalem where they have been summoned, according to Israeli media reports.
Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency shows dozens of protesters shouting angrily, as several clash with police.
Demonstrators yelled phrases such as “We will die and not enlist,” “Nazis” and “To prison and not to the army”, according to The Times of Israel.
In late June, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men, upending a longstanding arrangement under which they were exempt from compulsory military service.
The decision has antagonised many in the community who oppose conscription, which they believe goes against their way of life.
Three arrested as Israel’s ultra-Orthodox protest conscription
Three members of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community have been arrested at a protest against compulsory military service, Israeli media outlet Kan reports.
Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled in late June that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for military service, overturning a longstanding practice under which Jewish seminary students were exempt from conscription.
Video from the ground posted on social media, and verified by Al Jazeera’a fact-checking unit, shows demonstrators clashing with police as they try to storm a military recruitment office in Jerusalem.
מפגינים הפילו את הגדרות, גררו פחים וניסו להגיע ללשכה. השוטרים עם אלות ופרשים הרחיקו אותם. בין השאר גוררים את הרבנים למרכז המהומות ואז צועקים לשוטרים 'כבוד לרבנים'. pic.twitter.com/xwUwXs4M7E
— שילה פריד🇮🇱 (@shilofreid) August 21, 2024
Translation: Demonstrators tore down fences, dragged rubbish cans and tried to get to the office. The policemen with batons and horsemen drove them away. Among other things, they dragged the rabbis to the centre of the riots and then shouted at the policemen, “Respect for the rabbis.”
