The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that a large anti-conscription demonstration by Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews in Jerusalem turned deadly Tuesday when demonstrators attacked a passing bus and allegedly threatened the driver, who appears to have tried to get away from them by driving straight ahead. He unfortunately struck 4 of the demonstrators who were in the street in front of the bus, killing one young man who ended up under the bus. The other three were lightly wounded.
An Israeli police statement blamed the demonstrators, saying that they had disturbed the peace, closed off streets, damaged buses, set garbage bins alight, thrown eggs and other things at the police, hurled obscenities repeatedly, and attacked journalists on the scene. The police said that during these disturbances a bus collided with several demonstrators. The bus driver was detained and is being interrogated about the incident. Several journalists were injured by rock throwing and had to be taken to hospital.
Although the bus driver was said to be “from East Jerusalem,” i.e. he was Palestinian, the police do not believe that he was motivated by nationalist considerations. Palestinian and Palestinian-Israeli bus drivers have been attacked on many occasions in recent times, and the driver probably feared for his life if he slowed down or stopped, since the demonstrators might storm the bus and harm him. But forging ahead caused him to run down people ahead of him, who may have been trying to make him stop. That police felt him not to have engaged in a premeditated action is suggested by their arrest and questioning of him. Those Palestinians deemed to be committing terrorism are typically shot on the spot.
The Middle East Monitor explains, At the rally some Haredi rabbis denounced the Israeli government, calling military service wicked and saying that even the evil gentiles do not force Ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in their militaries. The rally was organized by committed Haredim such as the 60,000-strong Jerusalem Faction and by the Council of Torah Sages within the Shas Party.
When Israel was established in 1948, the Ultra-Orthodox only made up 2 percent of the population. They were granted an exemption from military service, to which they objected. Many Haredi men spend their young adulthood in seminary studying the Torah and the Talmud. They are rooted in Eastern European Jewish spiritual currents that are often but not always pacifist, and they do not believe that a Jewish state can be legitimately established by mere human politicians such as David Ben Gurion; rather it must be the work of the Messiah when he comes.
These beliefs clash with those of secular nationalist Zionists, but when they were a small population they were overlooked, rather in the way that the Amish and Mennonites are granted their distinctive styles of life in the U.S. and recognized as conscientious objectors regarding military service. Now, however, they form such a large group in Israeli society that if they won’t serve in the military, it detracts from national security from the point of view of the Zionists. The Ultra-Orthodox have large families and may be an even bigger proportion of Israelis in the future. In any case, the Supreme Court struck down the administrative exemption they had been given.
Many secular Israeli Jews resent the Haredim, since the rest of the Israelis must serve in the military. Secular Israelis have seen their members killed or injured in Gaza or psychologically traumatized by the genocide they committed there (facing high rates of suicide).
Given the Supreme Court ruling that Haredim are subject to conscription just like other Israeli Jews (and the Druze, the only Palestinian-Israelis who serve), the only way for them to avoid military service would be for Parliament, the Knesset, to pass a law specifically exempting them. Such a bill has been proposed, but apparently in its current form it would not restore an absolute exemption.
Photo of Mea Shearim, Jerusalem, Israel by Aharon Luria on Unsplash
MEMO reported, “the two parties representing the haredim, Shas (11 seats) and Yahadut HaTorah (7 seats), warned they could bring down the government if the conscription law is not passed.”
These parties form part of the current extreme-right government, which has 68 of 120 seats in Parliament. If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost those 18 seats, he would lose his majority, being left with only 50 seats, and the center-right opposition parties could unseat him with a no-confidence vote.
Even the proposed legislation restoring exemption from conscription is not worded in a way that it is acceptable to many Haredim, who are therefore peeved at Shas, which represents Ultra-Orthodox Jews with roots in Middle Eastern countries such as Morocco, and which supports the draft bill. During the rally, anti-Shas posters were pasted all over Jerusalem.
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