Israel – Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews blocked highways across Israel on Thursday and clashed with security forces to protest government plans to draft them into the military, police said.
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The simultaneous rallies in numerous locations caused large traffic jams, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
In Jerusalem, some 400 activists tried to block the entrance to the city but were dispersed with water cannons and 15 were arrested. In the southern city of Ashdod, the demonstrators hurled stones at the police, injuring two policemen. Rosenfeld said eight protesters were arrested there.
Elsewhere, a major highway in central Israel was blocked by about 2,000 protesters. Police on horses beat back demonstrators with clubs and used to stun grenades to clear the roads.
The riots follow a Supreme Court ruling this week ordering funding halted to ultra-Orthodox seminaries whose students dodge the draft. Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s freezing of the funds sparked angry warnings from ultra-Orthodox leaders.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews have for years been exempt from military service, which is compulsory for Jewish Israelis. The arrangement has caused widespread resentment among Israel’s secular majority and featured prominently in last year’s election.
A new system that would gradually reduce the number of exemptions and require all to register for service awaits parliamentary approval.
The ultra-Orthodox have been demonstrating against the plan and condemned the court decision. They claim the military will expose their youth to secularism and undermine their devout lifestyle.
The issue of army service is at the core of a cultural war over the place of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israeli society. The ultra-Orthodox, who make up about 8 percent of Israel’s 8 million citizens, have largely been allowed to skip compulsory military service to pursue their religious studies. Older men often avoid the workforce and collect welfare stipends while continuing to study full time.
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There will be civil war. The Jewish people will no longer serve the Haredim.
Oy what a mess.
Is that AlterG I see in the photos taunting the Israeli policemen ?
In 1942 in the Ghetto Litzmannstadt there was the Sperre. Daily empty Reichsautobahn trailers arrived manned by Einsatzguppen SS and later in the afternoon the left Baluta Rynek loaded with children, women and men on their way to Treblinka. There was no one to help us. On my visit to Israel I sat in Restaurant with my wife bis 120 and next to me sat a soldier with his Uzi and I lifted it and only had there been someone with Uzi in 1942. It is not torah which prevents these individuals to serve but sinas chinom and utmost cowardness . They need tough police to break a few bones which maybe will revive their brain function. Disgusting , pathetic and sad
Ridiculous… Do they really think act like this will help their cause, if anything, this gives reason why these kids should be drafted in the first place.
*wondering* were these authorized by any of the rabbis..?
Im proud with my brothers in israel keep strong, jews will never serve in the tumna IDF even with water canons or ferd
רשע למה תכה רעך
Go to work and stop kvetching.
Mr Alterg please tell me why the charedim never embraced vadas tal. It was for older married men not young 18 year old bochrim and they would do some silly national service for three months. Don’t yell chazor treif. Because people that age have no problem sitting in a mixed secular enviornment in the knesset. So where were the charedim then? The answer is the army draft is a blony excuse. They just don’t want to work. The proof is in the pudding.
מדינה של גיהנם
this is great that we have pictures
so I can study the faces and then see if I recognize any when they come collecting for the 7th child that they are making chasuna for and the matzav is very schver
of course its shver when you don’t begin to work just participating in every idiotic demonstration and roam the street with shopping bags!
If you’re already invoking the nazis, I would sooner compare the vicious policemen to them.
And if you think a few Uzis would’ve helped against the SS, then you’re a silly fool.
One Jew is not better than the other. We cannot judge who is right. What I do know is that an army is crutial to our survival and back in the biblical days we even had an army, 20 years old and up, men served. If Israel has been supporting these men up till now, what have these men been doing for the rest of the Jewish Nation? Have they tried Keruving Israeli society? Have they been praying for them? No. Im sure plenty of them thought all along how much better they are from Israeli society and cursing them in their hearts. Well, only Gd knows who is right…..
Civil war coming up unless the gedolim come up with a solution which satisfies both parties.
All of you (Numbers 1, 5 and 9) miss the point! These people refuse to violate their beliefs! They feel (and its corroborated with mountains of evidence) that serving in the IDF will cause them to sin (very loose morals etc) and dont believe in the zionist ideology.
Simply put these very same people here in the USA would be exempt from serving as conscientious objectors. If the IDF really wanted these ‘chevra’ to serve why not change the attitude of the IDF? How come they force women to sing at events in the name of equality and promote an environment where men and women mix in training (sometimes even promoted) and end up committing sins that are accepted as normal. Even the US army has designated their education team to train the women in separate systems albeit in the field .
The answer is that the LEFT and hence the IDF, doesnst care about drafting chareidim so that they serve their country, they have an agenda and that is to break their religiosity. In other words their (chareidim) commitment to god is at stake.
Lets look at the stats form the past two thousand years in a battle for religion beliefs we Jews have always won. It just may take a while.
Well. we see they know how to fight. Just focus that aggressiveness on Arabs, not fellow Jews.
that idiot pulling the horse’s tail….
It’s sickening to see one Jew hitting another!
They need to continue to do this every day with more folks, so the kufrim will feel it in their Torah’less brains. I’m with you brothers. Stay strong.
Too bad that horse that did not use her back hoofs to kick the moron that was pulling her tail! He deeply deserved that. The horse has a more Yiddishe neshama than SOME of these Chasidim.
#5 i was there the uzi gun wold help you think so in the restorant ” koychi voycem judi” metoych machol i mistey very heroic zionizum promiset us an end to antisemitisum to us to the klal yisroel bgoyle now the uzi criated the bigest antisemitisom around the world bar kochva had uzis but did it achive in the long ron you cold slogonize with goyis thinking koychi v oycem yudi but the yesod hajesoydos AM YISROEL RAK IM TOYRES YISROEL CHAY LEOYLOM. cal it ultra ultrodox chridem all cind of name calling it what you whant athached to us basicly we where in e.y yisroel before the ziyoinim came truly physicly they build up the land but so did the romans but what did they toEREC YISROEL i think as tax payers there is more somrey toyre than secolers but money sucers so coled artist sportlers enterteinment all cined blnkendi blank expenses much much more than then the S>T> drowes
These pictures made me sick to my stomach. The looks of hatred from both sides. Oy.
Right or wrong doesnt matter, what matters is that you cannot force a culture by force onto another people in 2013.
its sad charaidim act in such a primitive childish manner. is this the product of torah is this the way supposedly people would keep hashem holy torah act like low lifes?
torah jews should act with manners, dignity respect class….what a disgrace what a chilul hashem these charaidim cause,,,,
Reading all these horrific comments are maybe just as bad as these horrific pictures!
It is just great to see all of the wonderful things that these men are learning in yeshiva and kollel. Pulling the tail of a horse, burning police cars, rioting, throwing rocks at police – all, no doubt, excellent Torah values. I just can’t understand why a secular Israeli wouldn’t be willing to spend years risking his life and paying high taxes to support such excellent scholars.
look at the hatred in these Israeli policeman faces ,hashem yerachem ,no goy in the uk would give u such open hatred as these so called jewish policeman ,whats the world coming to.
Mark my words right here and now. Every intafada is preceded by the Arabs observing stupid actions by ultra religious fanatics. Nebech thanks to these morons the Arabs will now be attacking ALL the Yidden again shortly.
#71 so according to you no one should be learning and everyone needs to work to pay bills? Are you Jewish ?
For all of those who claim that they were demonstrating and NOT rioting: THEY CLOSED MAJOR ENTRANCES TO JERUSALEM!!! I was once sitting in the traffic jam that such a demonstration caused for TWO HOURS!!!! As a result, I missed a class and I was so late home that I had to have a neighbor pick my baby up from day care and give him supper.
They were disrupting the peace. The police were doing their job to make sure citizens could get home, to doctor appointments, to business, to their children.
Strange. I’d have thought that chareidim would appreciate funds being cut. After all, if they hate the medinah that much and want nothing to do wit it, then they shouldn’t want it’s tumah money either.
So, I guess the State is ok when it comes to taking, but evil when it demands participation. Nice to know where chareidi priorities lie.