JERUSALEM: Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting against compulsory military service for their community broke into an army base near Tel Aviv on Tuesday, the military said in a statement.
“Over the past few hours, dozens of protesters attempted to break into the Tel Hashomer base during protests that took place outside of the base,” a military statement said.
The demonstrators “managed to infiltrate the Adjutant Corps Monument adjacent to the base fence” before being cleared out by police, it said.
Tel Hashomer, located east of Tel Aviv, is the largest base for newly enlisted army recruits in Israel.
The Israeli military said it “condemns this violent behavior and insists that the protesters be brought to justice.”
“The enlistment of ultra-orthodox citizens is an operational necessity and is being conducted in accordance with the law,” and the military is “determined” to press ahead with it, the statement added
Historically exempt from compulsory military service, ultra-Orthodox seminary students are being called up while Israel’s war in Gaza and a potential conflict with Hezbollah on the northern border sap resources and fuel resentment of those who do not have to serve.
The call-ups follow a ruling in June by Israel’s top court that exemptions from mandatory service for ultra-Orthodox men were discriminatory and that the state must draft them.
Under longstanding arrangements, ultra-Orthodox Jews, who make up about 13 percent of Israel’s 10 million population, had not been subject to the draft.
Members of the largely insular community, where young men of recruitment age typically study in Jewish seminaries, have taken to the streets to protest conscription, leading to clashes with police in Jerusalem.
Ultra-Orthodox men had already clashed with police outside Tal Hashomer on Monday before being dispersed or physically carried away.
In July, one leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi, Dov Lando, urged Yeshiva students to ignore the summons orders, writing in the Yated Neeman daily that it was “war” against religious Jews.
Ultra-Orthodox anti-draft protesters storm Israeli army base
https://arab.news/25np4
Ultra-Orthodox anti-draft protesters storm Israeli army base
- Historically exempt from compulsory military service, ultra-Orthodox seminary students are being called up
- Israel’s war in Gaza and a potential conflict with Hezbollah on the northern border sap resources and fuel resentment of those who do not have to serve
Lebanon condemns deadly Israeli strikes on south and east
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s president on Saturday condemned deadly Israeli attacks on his country carried out a day prior, the latest despite a ceasefire with militant group Hezbollah.
In a statement, Joseph Aoun called the attacks “a blatant act of aggression aimed at thwarting diplomatic efforts” by the United States and other nations to establish stability.
A lawmaker from Hezbollah called on Beirut to suspend meetings of a multinational committee tasked with monitoring the truce.
Washington is one of five members on the committee overseeing the ceasefire implemented in November 2024, with the body scheduled to meet again next week.
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the ceasefire, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah but occasionally also the group’s Palestinian ally Hamas.
The Friday attacks on southern and eastern Lebanon killed 12 people, according to the health ministry, 10 of them in the east of the country.
Israel’s military said it struck “several terrorists of Hezbollah’s missile array in three different command centers in the Baalbek area.”
Hezbollah said a commander was killed in the raids. Its lawmaker Rami Abu Hamdan said on Saturday the group “will not accept the authorities acting as mere political analysts, dismissing these as Israeli strikes we have grown accustomed to before every meeting of the committee.”
He called on Beirut to “suspend the committee’s meetings until the enemy ceases its attacks.”
Hezbollah, while weakened following war with Israel, remains a strong political force in Lebanon represented in parliament.
Lebanon’s government last year committed to disarming the group, with the army saying last month it had completed the first phase of the plan covering the area near the Israeli border.
Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming since the war, has called the Lebanese army’s progress on disarming the militant group insufficient.
