Liberman: 'Organized gangs of Haredim' must be prosecuted

Haredim block traffic on Route 4 in protest of arrests of draft-dodgers

Police say protesters called them ‘Nazis’; female motorist confronts Haredi crowd, prompting cries of ‘Shiksa!’

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked traffic on a major highway for hours Monday, and one was arrested, in the latest in a series of raucous demonstrations against efforts to end Haredi men’s de facto mass exemption from mandatory military service.

The demonstration, which was organized by the extremist Jerusalem Faction, was called after several Haredi draft dodgers were arrested in recent days. There were 19 such men still in jail as of Sunday, according to the Ynet news site.

The fringe group has also denounced Shas and United Torah Judaism, the two ultra-Orthodox parties represented in the Knesset, for agreeing to discuss a bill proposed by MK Boaz Bismuth to regulate the issue. The proposal would codify broad exemptions for full-time yeshiva students, while also setting out conscription targets for the Haredi population overall in coming years.

Amid the slogans chanted at the protest were “We’ll die rather than draft,” “The army is worse than death,” and “War!” Ynet reported. Demonstrators hoisted signs reading “Better to die Haredi than live as a secular person” and sang, “We have no faith in the rule of the nonbelievers.”

Participants referred to detained draft-dodgers as “hostages,” and held posters in the style of those advocating the return of people kidnapped by Hamas. In place of the slogan “Bring him home now!” the signs said: “Bring him back to yeshiva now!”

As a result of the demonstration, traffic was blocked in both directions on central Israel’s Route 4 highway from Aluf Sade Interchange to Em Hamoshavot Interchange, a stretch of some 6.7 kilometers (4.1 miles). The Red Line light rail was also disrupted, stopping service in Petah Tikva.

At one point, a driver exited her vehicle and confronted the protesters, in an incident that was recorded and shared on social media.

Amid the near-brawl – the video appears to show the driver throwing a punch at a protester, though it’s not clear that she made contact – the protesters, some of whom are young boys and teenagers, shouted, “Shiksa!” a Yiddish pejorative.

Police declared the demonstration illegal at around 5 p.m., and issued several statements accusing the participants of disrupting public order and of calling police officers on the scene “Nazis.”

Around 7:30 p.m., organizers declared the protest over. One person was arrested, according to media reports.

Reporter Yaakov Hershkowitz, of the Israel Hayom daily, said on X that, as he was trying to record the demonstration with his phone, “an officer shoved the phone in my face and injured me on my upper lip.” He included videos of the alleged incident, which also showed police dragging away one young protester, and shoving other protesters who tried to interfere.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid responded to the demonstration on X, writing: “932 soldiers have fallen over the last two years, to protect those draft-dodgers who are blocking roads and shouting, ‘The army is worse than death.’ There’s only one possible answer: Stop sending them money, and draft them all, immediately.”

Avigdor Liberman, chair of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, denounced the “organized gangs of Haredim,” writing in a post: “The fact that the state’s services are not enforcing the law against these bullies just proves that the government cares about its survival rather than its citizens.”

He continued: “The fact is, we’ve seen no court rulings against these criminals, and not one draft-dodger has been tried. According to the law, the penalty for inciting against conscription in wartime is ten years in prison.”

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The Israel Defense Forces has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.

For the past year, the Haredi leadership has pushed for a law keeping its constituency out of the IDF, after the High Court ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.

The demonstration on Monday drew hundreds, according to Hebrew media reports. Some mass protests — endorsed by more mainstream parts of the Haredi world, rather than just the Jerusalem Faction — have drawn as many as 200,000 ultra-Orthodox citizens to the streets.

On Thursday, hundreds of young Haredi men clashed with police in Jerusalem, injuring 13 officers — including by throwing stones at some of them — and overturning a cruiser in a riot apparently sparked by an attempt to issue a parking ticket. According to Hebrew outlets, officers had realized that the assailants were draft dodgers and sought to hand them over to the Military Police.