Hundreds of demonstrators blocked the main entrance to Jerusalem near the Chords Bridge, and dozens more disrupted traffic on Bar-Ilan Street. Ynet reported that police used stun grenades, batons and mounted officers to clear the crowds. On Highway 4 near Bnei Brak, protesters stayed seated on the road an hour into the demonstration, chanting "We will die and not enlist." The highway was blocked northbound at the Aluf Sade Interchange and southbound at the Em HaMoshavot Interchange.
The two reports give different accounts of an incident involving a soldier. Ynet said a soldier was trapped in his car during the blockade and that the vehicle was later extracted. The Jerusalem Post said protesters stopped a vehicle carrying a haredi soldier and that police officers rescued him using tear gas. One person was arrested.
The reports also differ on a second incident. A haredi protester was dragged by a vehicle at the city entrance. Police denied a hit-and-run had taken place. They said the man had "hung onto the vehicle of his own accord" and added that they had footage supporting this.
"Protest is a right; disturbing public order is not," Police Commissioner Daniel Levy said in a statement.
Jerusalem's light rail was heavily disrupted. On police instructions, the L1 line was split into two sections, one between Neve Yaakov and Davidka and the other between Denia Square and Hadassah Ein Kerem. The L3 line ran only between Malha and the International Convention Center. Police also made preparations near Ben-Gurion Airport in case protests spread there.
The arrests behind the protests came after a pause of more than two months in Military Police "home visits." In a meeting with the attorney general, the military acknowledged that it had deliberately refrained from proactively arresting haredi draft evaders during that period. The protests were organized by the Jerusalem Faction following the arrest of two haredi draft evaders earlier this week in Beersheba and Eilat.
Overnight, crowds blocked arrests in several cities. In Bat Yam, a draft evader sent out an alert warning that "the kidnappers have arrived." Dozens of protesters arrived, the Military Police withdrew without arresting him, and the crowd danced in the street. The same thing happened at two homes in Dimona. i24NEWS reported that on Tuesday in Modi'in, police officers advised the Military Police to release a detained draft evader in order to calm things down. The individual, who was already handcuffed, was released.
Opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot, whom the Post identified as head of the Yashar Party, blamed the government. "Under this government, the lives of Israeli citizens who serve and work have turned into a succession of disasters, failures, and accidents," he wrote on X. He called it a "government of draft evasion" that "fosters chaos and disorder in the streets."
During the night, a number of initiated arrests of draft evaders and deserters were successfully carried out across the country.
