Violent clashes in occupied Jerusalem over Haredi military conscription have injured Israeli police and intensified political pressure on Netanyahu’s already fragile coalition.
At least ten Israeli police officers were injured, and four people were arrested during clashes with ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters (Haredim) in occupied Jerusalem, amid growing opposition to compulsory military service, Israeli media reported.
According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the violence erupted after Israeli police arrested a man accused of evading military conscription. The confrontations escalated into widespread unrest, prompting Israeli authorities to deploy a helicopter to contain the riots.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid commented that the clashes reflect “the government’s inaction and the disintegration of state institutions.”
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Avigdor Lieberman, head of the right-wing opposition party Yisrael Beiteinu, said the incidents occurred because “draft dodgers are attacking the police in Jerusalem while the leadership of the state is under the authority of the Haredim.”
Earlier this week, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Haredi parties had threatened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with backing the dissolution of the Knesset and triggering early elections unless the government fast-tracked legislation exempting them from military service.
The Shas party, which holds 11 seats, and United Torah Judaism, with seven seats, have repeatedly warned they would bring down the government if the exemption law is not passed. The current Knesset term is set to expire in October 2026.
Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which includes the Haredi parties, controls 68 of the 120 Knesset seats and requires a minimum of 61 to remain in power.
The protests have continued since Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on June 25, 2024, that ultra-Orthodox men must be drafted and that state funding be withheld from religious institutions whose students refuse military service.
(PC, AJA)
