JERUSALEM: Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews took to Jerusalem’s streets for a mass prayer vigil Sunday in protest at plans to conscript their young men for Israeli military service.
Wearing white shirts under dark suits and donning black hats, a sea of ultra-Orthodox men and boys representing the three major streams — Lithuanian, Hassidic and Sephardi — were united in a rare show of power against impending legislation that could change their legal status in the Jewish state.
Bearing signs with slogans such as “war on religion” and “we will not join the military,” the masses took part in a prayer led by a cantor through huge loudspeakers set up at Jerusalem’s main road in and out of the city.
Yaakov Biton, a 28-year-old resident of the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, told AFP that he and the rest of his peers from his theological seminary came to Jerusalem “to show that we are not afraid of the criminal sanctions, we are united.”
“We will win in the end, the torah will win,” said Biton.
Police said “hundreds of thousands” were taking part in the demonstration, which saw major disruption of traffic. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 3,500 police were deployed to maintain order.
The protests were sparked by cuts in government funding to Jewish theological seminaries, or yeshivas, and a planned crackdown on young ultra-Orthodox men seeking to avoid Israel’s compulsory military draft.
The Cabinet last year agreed to end a practice under which tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox were exempted from military service if they were in full-time yeshiva study.
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox blast conscription plan
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox blast conscription plan
Israel army ‘temporarily suspends’ strike on south Lebanon
- The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it would “temporarily” suspend a strike planned for Saturday that was intended to target what it described as Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
A November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, which broke out after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
But Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately.
But later Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said “the strike was temporarily suspended,” adding that the military “continues to monitor the target.”
The suspension came after the Lebanese army “requested access again to the specified site... and to address the breach of the agreement,” he said on X.
Adraee added that the military would “not allow” Hezbollah to “redeploy or rearm.”
The year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism includes the United Nations, the United States and France.
A Lebanese security source said the army had previously tried to search the building that the Israeli military wanted to target but could not because of objections from residents.
But the source told AFP that the Lebanese army was able to enter and search the building after returning a second time, because residents “felt threatened,” adding that they were evacuated over fears of a strike.
