Iran Press/ West Asia: For decades, ultra-Orthodox men of military age have avoided Israeli army conscription by enrolling in yeshivas for Torah study and obtaining repeated one-year service deferrals until reaching the age of exemption. In 2017, the High Court ruled such mass exemptions illegal and discriminatory. Subsequent occupation governments have attempted without success to devise new legislation to address the issue while seeking repeated deferrals from the court.
According to news sources, about 25 thousand Haredi Jews came to the streets of occupied Jerusalem on Sunday night to protest against conscription.
Protesters carried signs reading: “We will not enlist in the enemy army,” and: “We will die and not enlist.”
The demonstrators gathered in Mea Shearim, an ultra-Orthodox area late on Sunday, to oppose the decree, before moving into downtown occupied al-Quds and being dispersed using water cannons loaded with skunk-scented water.
The protests have still not been brought under control with many protesting early Sunday holding placards that read "not even one male" should be called to service.
Some protesters attacked the car of United Torah Judaism party leader Yitzhak Goldknopf. Protesters threw stones at his car, beat the vehicle, and insulted him as he drove by, according to Israeli media. Minutes later, the Israeli police swept him out of the area.
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