Thousands of ultra-Orthodox rally in Jerusalem against military service

Tens of thousands of protesters have marched in Jerusalem to demand that ultra-Orthodox Jewish people remain exempt from Israeli military service.

Approximately 200,000 people, mostly men clad in traditional black suits and hats carrying placards denouncing conscription, brought West Jerusalem to a standstill Thursday, clogging roads and setting fire to pieces of tarpaulin, local media reported.

At least 2,000 police officers were mobilised to respond to the demonstration.

One teenager died at the largely peaceful protest after falling from a building under construction next to the protest, police said.

Banners seen at the protest declared: “The people are with the Torah” and “Closing the yeshiva — a death sentence for Judaism.”

The mass demonstration follows a recent crackdown, with thousands of call-up notices sent to ultra-Orthodox people in recent months and several deserters imprisoned.

“Right now, people who refuse to go to the army are taken to military prison,” said Shmuel Orbach, a protester, “It’s not so bad. But we are a Jewish country. You cannot fight against Judaism in a Jewish country; it does not work.”

The debate over military service — and who is exempt — has long caused tensions in Israeli society and become a political headache for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his country’s two-year war on Gaza.

Under a ruling established at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, when the ultra-Orthodox were a very small community, men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, or about 1.3 million people, and roughly 66,000 men of military age currently benefit from the exemption.

Frustration at the exemption has grown amid Israel’s wars on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran since 2023, as the Israeli military death toll reached the highest number for decades.

Last year, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for service.

In its ruling, the court said that in the absence of a law that distinguishes between Jewish seminary students and other draftees, Israel’s compulsory military service system applies to ultra-Orthodox men like any other citizen.

That ruling has had a destabilising effect on Netanyahu’s coalition government. In July, Israel’s ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), announced it was quitting the country’s fractious right-wing coalition, leaving Netanyahu with a razor-thin majority in the Knesset.

Parliament has been struggling to draft a new conscription bill, which has so far failed to meet both the ultra-Orthodox demands and those of a stretched military.

Israel is scheduled to hold elections by late October 2026, with at least 11 new political parties already registered and Netanyahu’s opposition once again searching for a way to unseat him.