Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protest military draft in Jerusalem; AP explains

Описание: (30 Oct 2025)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4614431

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem - 30 October 2025
1. Aerial of protests blocking road
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Federman, The Associated Press: ++PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 3 - 6++
"As you can see behind me, I'm standing here in front of a large crowd of ultra-Orthodox Jews here in central Jerusalem. They are among tens of thousands of people who are protesting against attempts by the Israeli government to enlist them, to draft them into the Israeli military. Military service is required, it's mandatory for most Jews in Israel. However, under a long-standing system, religious men are exempt from this requirement. The system is very controversial among the broader public. It has become even more so during these past two years of war against Hamas. Now the protest has gotten larger and larger throughout the day - tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands are participating. It's quite lively. This situation has caused complications for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Supreme Court has ordered him to halt this system of exemptions. However, he is dependent on ultra-Orthodox, powerful ultra-Orthodox parties to keep his coalition intact. If he moves too forward in ending this system, he risks seeing his government, his coalition, fall apart."
3. Various aerials of protests blocking roads
4. Aerial of circle forming in protest
5. Zoom in of protest
6. Aerial of protest
STORYLINE:
Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men gathered in downtown Jerusalem Thursday to protest plans to draft them into the Israeli military.

Israel shut down the major highway at the entrance to Jerusalem and deployed more than 2,000 officers, as tens of thousands of ultra-orthodox, known as haredim, thronged the streets.

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

Deep divisions in Israeli society over the current draft exemption given to the ultra-Orthodox has emerged as the most serious threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The orthodox Jewish community largely opposes enlistment because they believe studying full-time in religious seminaries is their most important duty.

The broad exemptions from mandatory military service have infuriated much of the general public during the war in Gaza.

Over 900 soldiers have been killed since the war began.

Many reserve soldiers have served hundreds of days in multiple tours of duty, and the military has repeatedly sounded the alarm that more soldiers are desperately needed to meet Israel’s defense needs.

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