'Israel' witnesses stormy protests outside draft office for Haredim

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
5 Aug 2024 16:10
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The protesting Haredim have chanted slogans rejecting enlistment, including "We'd rather die than join the army."

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Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Israelis protested against plans to make them undergo military service in occupied al-Quds on March 2, 2024. (AFP)

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Israelis gathered on Monday to protest near the entrance of the Tel Hashomer base, as per Israeli media reports. This demonstration followed an IOF order requiring 1,200 ultra-Orthodox men to report to the base to start the enlistment process.

Both the Shas party's Council of Torah Sages and Rabbi David Landau, leader of the non-Hasidic Ashkenazi community, have explicitly instructed their followers to avoid the draft office entirely, including the initial screening, and to refrain from military service.

Hundreds of Haredim arrived by bus at the recruitment office at the base, protesting the Israeli military's call for 1,200 Haredim as part of the initial recruitment order.

The protesting Haredim chanted slogans rejecting enlistment, including "We'd rather die than join the army." Meanwhile, both the police and the Israeli military deployed a large force to the area, with the police having already closed off the street around the office.

'This is a plan for total destruction'

One of the posters and flyers in ultra-Orthodox settler communities read, "For anyone who tried to take comfort in the fact that this edict only applies to those who are working, the letter the deputy attorney general sent to the army shattered this illusion. This is a plan for total destruction, and if we don't fight now over the first 1,000, they will reach all of us, heaven forbid, including your son."

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the military anticipates that only 30% of those summoned for enlistment will report for duty today and the following day.

The issue of mandatory conscription has been a heated topic in "Israel" amid the Haredim community's rejection of the legislation. Members of the community have been constantly protesting their government, while chief Rabbis have called for the boycott of all recruitment offices.

'Israel has no right to exist', Chief Rabbis say upon Haredim draft

Last month, "Israel's" chief Sephardic rabbis officially instructed Yeshiva students to ignore army recruitment offices, slamming the latest mandatory conscription law discussed within the Knesset, and encouraging students to "favor prison and budget deprivations rather than cooperating with the Israeli army."

They stated that the law aimed to "destroy the Torah".

At the time, Rabbi Dov Landau, one of the chief rabbis of the Haredim, aggressively attacked Security Minister Yoav Gallant's decision to call up 3,000 Haredi Jews for military service, saying "A state that recruits yeshivas has no right to exist."

"The army is at war with us, and wants to usurp the Torah students' rights, which is complete suicide," he said, adding "In the absence of the regime, and amid the army's war against us, what is the point of standing for what? The government is completely and absolutely against us."

Upon discourse regarding the mandatory conscription of the ultra-orthodox community, the chief rabbis convened and urged the Haredim to divert from drafting orders and abstain from going to recruitment offices.