A large ultra-Orthodox protest over the arrest of draft evaders began on Wednesday at 4 p.m. with car convoys leaving 19 cities across Israel, creating severe traffic disruptions nationwide. The organizers said the plan was to drive slowly toward Prison 10 near Kfar Yona, circle it, and return, but later announced the convoys would stop short of the prison because the event had been “exhausted.”
Police and road authorities warned of major congestion on Route 6, Route 1, Route 443, Route 4, Route 2, Route 20 and Route 57. Officers said they would allow the right to protest but not “anarchy on the roads,” and urged drivers to avoid unnecessary travel in the affected areas. MDA also said it had completed preparations, with ambulances and intensive care units deployed from the afternoon.
The protest was organized by Gur Hasidim, the largest Hasidic court in Israel and a major force in United Torah Judaism. Convoys were launched from, among other places, Elad, Ashdod, Tiberias, Beitar Illit, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak, Givat Ze’ev, Haifa, Hatzor HaGlilit, Jerusalem, Modi’in Illit, Nof HaGalil, Netanya, Emanuel, Afula, Arad, Safed, Kiryat Gat and Rehovot. Agudat Yisrael’s newspaper HaModia called on the public to join, with headlines including “The whole country is a burning bonfire.”
Several incidents were reported during the day. In the Arad area, residents clashed with Ultra-Orthodox protesters, and police said southern district forces were responding to a fight near a residential complex. Near Ashdod, cars in the convoy were vandalized, while near the exit point in Arad a local resident attacked a protester. On Route 1, demonstrators got out of their vehicles and briefly blocked traffic, and the driver for MK Yitzhak Goldknopf was filmed using a siren without operational need.
Later, organizers said the convoy from Bnei Brak would turn back on Route 57 and the rest would disband immediately. Separately, a pregnant woman was seriously hurt in a chain-reaction crash on Route 1 after driving into the back of a vehicle that was part of the protest convoy; she was evacuated by ambulance to hospital.
