Tensions over mandatory military conscription have peaked, with the Haredi community launching a major protest movement coinciding with a critical discussion in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee concerning the draft exemption law.
The massive mobilization, dubbed an "Assembly of the Million," is scheduled to take place at the entrance to Jerusalem this Thursday, with Haredi newspapers calling on the community to turn out “as one man” against the “persecution of Torah students.”
Early Protest Draws Anger for Exploiting Hostage Symbols
The main demonstration follows a smaller, contentious protest held this morning outside Military Prison 10 against the arrest of Haredi draft dodgers (deserters).
The protest, organized by institutions affiliated with the Ateret Shlomo network, drew immediate condemnation from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Organizers sparked outrage by cynically using yellow symbols associated with the hostage cause, including balloons and posters designed in the style of the Hostage Forum’s campaign, to represent the arrested Haredi men.
The Hostages Forum issued an enraged statement, demanding that the organizers “immediately cease the degrading use of these symbols.”
“The yellow color and the symbols born out of pain, hope, and national unity have become a unifying symbol for the people of Israel on behalf of the hostages, not a tool for propaganda or political use of any kind,” the Forum stated. They accused the protest of “desecrating the moral necessity of returning our remaining sons for burial and debasing the pain of the families.”
