Protesters Block IDF Induction Center

Declaring that they would rather die than enlist in the IDF, dozens of ultra-Orthodox men protest at a military induction center in an attempt to disrupt the drafting of a number of yeshiva students to the Israel Defense Forces.

Security forces work to remove members of the extremist Jerusalem Faction, some of whom tried to lie down in front of buses at the Tel Hashomer base, the Ynet news site reports.

The protests meant that parents of teens going into the army were not able to accompany their children into the base, as is traditional.

Rachel Reznik from Kfar Saba tells Ynet: “I want the mothers of those who came to protest to come here stand in front of me and explain why my son is going to the army and their son is not.”

An unnamed resident of the West Bank settlement Dolev tells the outlet that she is distressed by the protests at the base as her sixth son enlists.

“I just drafted my sixth son into the army, and they come here to shout. It’s a disgrace; they should at least do something, go for national service,” she says, in tears. “They [the army] closed the induction base out of fear, and they don’t allow us to accompany the children to the bus. It’s ridiculous.”

The protest comes against the backdrop of bitter disagreements in the Knesset over the issue of Haredi enlistment to the IDF, after the High Court of Justice ruled in June that there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into compulsory service.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly reassured his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners that his government will advance a bill facilitating sweeping exemptions for Haredi men from mandatory military service.

The dispute over the ultra-Orthodox community serving in the military is one of the most contentious in Israel, with decades of governmental and judicial attempts to settle the issue never achieving a stable resolution. The issue has grown in urgency as the military suffers from a lack of troops and pressure on reservists increases over the past year of war.