Haredi mass rally in al-Quds exposes Zionist regime's growing crisis

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The New York Times
30 Oct 2025 17:37
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"Israel's" renewed push to conscript ultra-Orthodox men exposes deep political and social fractures within the Zionist regime, revealing its growing desperation to sustain prolonged wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

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Ultra-Orthodox Jews attend the "million man" protest against military conscription, in occupied al-Quds, October 30, 2025 (AFP)

The New York Times on Thursday reported that tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Israelis gathered in occupied al-Quds to oppose government plans aimed at drafting members of their community into the military.

The mass rally, described by organizers as a "march of the million," was framed as a prayer vigil but widely understood as a show of defiance against efforts to end the decades-old exemption that allows most ultra-Orthodox seminary students to avoid conscription. Large sections of the main highway connecting occupied al-Quds and Tel Aviv were shut down, and the city's train station near the western entrance was expected to close amid heavy traffic disruptions.

Breaking | Israeli Channel 14:

About 200,000 Haredim have arrived in Jerusalem to participate in a protest against conscription. pic.twitter.com/MbwgfRBa7U
— Nancy Abdallah🇵🇸🇾🇪🇱🇧🇮🇷 (@NanceAbdallah) October 30, 2025

Drafting Zionist Desperation

The exemption, introduced by "Israel's" founders in 1948 to restore Torah scholarship, initially applied to a few hundred students. Today, the Haredim, Hebrew for "those who tremble before God", constitute at least 15.6% of the Israeli Jewish population of around 7 million. Tens of thousands of men of draft age in this community remain outside the military, even as the armed forces say they urgently need 12,000 additional soldiers to sustain operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israeli Supreme Court ruled last year that there was no legal basis for maintaining the exemptions and instructed the army to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men unless new legislation is enacted. The government is currently attempting to craft a bill that satisfies both the military's recruitment demands and the political survival of its extremist coalition.

According to the paper, critics of the proposal say it would do little to change the status quo, setting low enlistment quotas and imposing only minimal sanctions on those who refuse to serve. Netanyahu's opponents argue that his dependence on ultra-Orthodox parties has tied his hands, perpetuating an unequal system that burdens secular Israelis while shielding the Haredim.

Zionist Exhaustion

From a broader perspective, the government's push to enlist the ultra-Orthodox community reflects a deeper exhaustion within the Zionist regime. After nearly two years of continuous war on Gaza and Lebanon, and repeated failures to eliminate the Palestinian resistance, "Israel" faces a mounting crisis of manpower and morale. The once-unquestioned Zionist ideal of a militarized "people's army" is unraveling, exposing internal fractures between secular and religious factions.

The attempt to draft Haredim, who have historically rejected participation in Zionist wars, marks a moment of desperation for a state struggling to sustain its colonial wars of occupation. What was once celebrated as unity under a shared national mission has devolved into internal division and fatigue, signaling that the settler-colonial system is beginning to strain under its own contradictions. As Netanyahu's wars drag on with no clear victory in Gaza, the effort to expand the draft is less a show of strength than a sign of a regime in decline, forced to turn inward to sustain endless war abroad.