The Jerusalem Faction (Peleg Yerushalmi), the hardline ultra-Orthodox group at the forefront of anti-draft demonstrations in Israel, has announced a series of mass protests to take place this evening (Monday) beginning at 5:00pm at multiple locations across the country.
The group cited what it described as "the criminal ongoing detention of yeshiva students, who have been thrown into prison alongside approximately 50 other yeshiva students and kollel members for the 'crime' of learning Torah, and in light of the persecution of Torah scholars in the Land of Israel."
The Jerusalem Faction stated that "multitudes of the Jewish people will go out at the instruction of our rabbis and teachers to a series of stormy protests across the country, in sharp protest against the severe harm to the Torah world and to the right of yeshiva students and kollel scholars to continue their Torah study without fear."
Protest Locations
The announced locations for this evening include:
Jerusalem, at the entrance to the city; Bnei Brak, at a location to be specified closer to the time; and Netivot. The Committee for the Rescue of the Torah World, which is coordinating the demonstrations, stated that "additional and more precise locations will be published later."
The protests follow the arrest of Haredi draft evaders earlier this week, which prompted Haredi political leaders to respond forcefully. United Torah Judaism chairman Moshe Gafni instructed the party's municipal representatives to stop cooperating with the Israel Police after the force began assisting the military in arresting ultra-Orthodox draft evaders.
According to state data, roughly 76,000 draft-age men have been declared draft evaders or are under draft orders, approximately 80% of them Haredi. The High Court of Justice has ordered the government to take active criminal proceedings against draft evaders, calling the previous pattern of non-enforcement "unacceptable" and describing the situation as a "knowing and ongoing mass violation of the law."
