The American news agency "Associated Press" shed light on the protests of extremist Jewish Haredim in Israel in response to the recent Supreme Court decision to cancel the exemption for religious youth from military service amid the ongoing fierce war in Gaza.
Hundreds of extremist Jewish men closed a major highway in central Israel for two hours yesterday, Thursday, in protest against the decision. According to the Associated Press, the protesters sat on the highway and lay on the ground while police lifted them and dragged them away. Mounted officers dispersed the crowd. Many protesters held up signs and chanted "To prison! No to the army!" A young man who identified himself to the Associated Press only by his first name, Ozar, said: "We all came here for one goal, which is to reflect the position of the entire Orthodox public. All the Orthodox public prefers to go to jail rather than to the army." The extremist Jews believe that their full-time religious studies are their role in protecting the state. Many fear that greater interaction with the secular community through the army will lead their followers away from strict adherence to religion. The Supreme Court ordered the government this week to begin recruiting religious men, saying that the exemption system is unfair, as military service is mandatory for most Jewish men and women in Israel. The agency reported that the decision could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. The Haredi parties and their followers oppose any change in the system. The leaders of the extremist Jews have not yet announced whether they will leave the government, but their followers have decided to organize a large protest in occupied Jerusalem on Sunday.