Ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters clash with Israeli police in Jerusalem over draft evader’s arrest

By Said Amori and Tarek Chouiref

JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL (AA) - Ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters clashed with Israeli police in Jerusalem late Sunday over the arrest of a member of their community who had failed to report for military service.

Around 200 protesters blocked light rail tracks on Shivtei Yisrael Street, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.

Police and Border Police dispersed the demonstrators and reopened Haim Bar-Lev Road following the clashes, according to Israel’s Channel 12. Footage broadcast by the channel showed officers using stun grenades and water cannons.

Earlier Sunday, ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked roads leading to a military recruitment center near Tel Aviv, where clashes also broke out with police. Those demonstrators were protesting the enlistment of members of their community.

Military service remains a deeply divisive issue among ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim. Many oppose conscription and demand exemptions for religious seminary students, while political parties and soldiers’ families are pressing to end those exemptions.

The dispute intensified after the legal basis for blanket exemptions was struck down and authorities resumed pursuing men wanted for military service.
The conscription dispute is also a key obstacle in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to form a government after the Oct. 27 parliamentary election.

Netanyahu’s bloc secured 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset compared with 48 for the opposition bloc led by Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot and 19 for Arab parties.

Neither main bloc reached the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.

Tarek Chouiref,Said Amori