Nationwide Haredi Protests Over Israeli Draft

Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Israelis have staged nationwide protests after the IDF resumed enforcement against yeshiva students evading conscription, with demonstrations including road blockages, stone-throwing, trash fires and clashes with police that have produced injuries and multiple detentions. Protest groups circulated charged flyers likening detained draft evaders to October 7 hostages, and leaders such as Rabbi Dov Lando called for central prayer gatherings; the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is expected to present a bill next week to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment. The unrest has spilled abroad, with a large “Cry of the Exile” rally outside the Israeli consulate in New York — where organizers claimed up to 100,000 attendees and thousands of Orthodox protesters, including Satmar leaders, denounced conscription and Israel’s treatment of religious Jews. The demonstrations underscore a widening rift between Israeli authorities and segments of the Haredi community at home and in the diaspora as lawmakers and the military push to end longstanding exemptions.