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Haredi minister's car attacked as violence erupts at anti-draft protest in Jerusalem
[IsraelTimes] 5 arrested during clashes with police, officer hospitalized; stones hurled at vehicles carrying United Torah Judaism party head Yitzhak Goldknopf and his predecessor Yaakov LitzmanThousands of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators on Sunday protested in Jerusalem against the conscription of Haredi yeshiva students into the military, with some throwing rocks and clashing with police. Five people were arrested in clashes, during which protesters also lit fires in the street and attacked the car of Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf. The demonstrators mostly belonged to the extremist Jerusalem Faction, which numbers some 60,000 members and regularly demonstrates against the enlistment of yeshiva students. Anger has boiled as the issue of ultra-Orthodox enlistment has returned to the government’s agenda against the background of the ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Haredim are angry at their own lawmakers who, as members of the coalition, backed a recent move to revive a bill from a previous parliament that would lower the age of exemption from mandatory service for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from 26 to 21 and “very slowly” increase their rate of conscription. Protesters on Sunday carried signs reading, “We will not enlist in the enemy army,” and “We will die and not enlist,” as they blocked an intersection that leads to a heavily ultra-Orthodox area in the capital. Related: Ultra-Orthodox 06/28/2024 Ultra-Orthodox block main road for hours in draft protest; 32 arrested Ultra-Orthodox 06/27/2024 Israeli attorney-general orders recruitment of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews following court ruling Ultra-Orthodox 06/25/2024 Supreme Court rules government, IDF must draft Haredi men Posted by: Skidmark 2024-07-02 |
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