ALBAWABA- Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews flooded Jerusalem’s streets on Thursday in a massive show of defiance against Israel’s Supreme Court ruling mandating their compulsory military conscription, in what organizers called a “million-man protest.”
Chanting “Torah over tanks” and waving black-and-white prayer shawls, the demonstrators, estimated at around 400,000 by police and over 600,000 by Haredi leaders, marched from the Mea Shearim neighborhood toward the Knesset, bringing traffic to a standstill as riot police deployed across the city.
The rally, Israel’s largest since the 2023 judicial overhaul protests, underscores a widening rift within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, where Haredi parties have threatened to withdraw unless long-standing military exemptions for religious students are reinstated.
The loss of their support could collapse Netanyahu’s fragile government at a time when Israel is already battling on two fronts in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Supreme Court’s decision, handed down earlier this month, ended decades of exemptions allowing ultra-Orthodox men to avoid mandatory service, a cornerstone of Israel’s identity debate between religious and secular communities.
Protest leaders warned that enforcing the draft would “tear the nation apart,” while secular groups hailed it as a long-overdue step toward equality.
Thursday’s demonstration capped weeks of escalating tensions, with clashes reported near the Knesset gates as police attempted to disperse crowds blocking major intersections. Despite the unrest, organizers vowed to continue civil resistance until the government enacts legislation restoring the exemptions.
