Ultra-Orthodox Protests Escalate as Government Freezes Controversial Draft and Housing Bills
A wave of unrest around the ultra-Orthodox draft crisis dominated the Hebrew news roundup on Monday. In the morning, dozens of activists from the Jerusalem Faction unexpectedly blocked the Coca-Cola intersection on the Geha Highway, protesting arrests of yeshiva students. The report said police responded with severe force, and organizers reportedly instructed protesters not to get hurt and to clear the junction if there was any risk from grenades. The regional commander was quoted telling the demonstrators, “Coordinate, and everything will be fine.”
The political fallout intensified in Jerusalem. Former minister Ariel Atias and MK Meir Porush met the cabinet secretary to work out a formula to prevent further arrests of Torah students. According to the report, Aryeh Deri’s plan, splitting the enlistment bill and passing a one-year temporary order that would keep financial sanctions but stop arrests, is expected to move next week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the coalition should have a majority for the legislation within days, and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is due to meet next week.
But the parallel effort to advance the housing bill collapsed. Netanyahu told ultra-Orthodox lawmakers that the apartment-subsidy bill is “buried” for this Knesset, saying, “There are rebels, I do not have a majority.” United Torah Judaism leader Moshe Gafni said his party would vote against every budget transfer, while the factions demanded a Basic Law on Torah study. The report said Netanyahu’s circle made clear the housing bill will not pass in the current term.
Meanwhile, more protests and clashes continued. Rabbi Meir Porush warned the attorney general, “We will drive her out with clubs and stones” if she does not stop the arrests. In another case, a 9-year-old boy in Bnei Brak was seriously injured after falling from an electric bicycle near the Supers complex and was evacuated in unstable condition after treatment by United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom. In Jerusalem, detained yeshiva students were released after the court rejected police’s request to hold them five more days. Separately, hundreds of children welcomed Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein before Shabbat, and another Bnei Brak protest blocked demolition of an unauthorized apartment built for a disabled resident, forcing the city to back down.
