Anti-exemption protesters plan to block Bnei Brak exits before Shabbat

A backlash protest is set for Friday, about two hours before Shabbat begins, after a day of ultra-Orthodox protest convoys disrupted traffic on major roads across Israel. The new demonstration, organized by the Mothers on the Front movement in support of equal military service, plans to block the exits from Bnei Brak, in what organizers describe as a direct response to recent road closures and to what they call inequality in bearing the burden of service.

Among the organizers are 19-year-old Yekutiel Epstein from Kibbutz Nofashim, who is serving in mandatory IDF service in Judea and Samaria, and attorney Ayelet Hashachar Saidoff, who heads Mothers on the Front. Epstein told Walla that hundreds are expected to take part, including active-duty soldiers, reservists, reservists’ spouses, and other civilians. He said, "The public is fed up," arguing that the side carrying the burden should be the one protesting, and accusing politicians from both right and left of continuing to fund "the gang of parasites" and of turning conscription, once "the holiest thing in Israel," into a political issue.

Epstein said the timing before Shabbat is intentional, mirroring what he sees as a tactic used by Haredim to disrupt others' lives. He framed the issue as one of national survival, saying that in wartime everyone must enlist, whether they study or not, and cited figures such as King David and Joshua bin Nun as leaders who understood the need to defend the state. He added that if people do not enlist, they should be sent to the recruitment base or to jail, and that all budgets and preferences for them should be canceled.

Saidoff said the trigger was the previous day’s blockages, which prevented parents from reaching children returning on leave from Lebanon and stopped soldiers trying to get home. She said more than 700 people have already joined the effort and the number is still rising. Their message, she said, is, "It is not over until we disrupt back." She criticized police for allowing repeated disruptions and said that if four Haredim can block a train, then two mothers can block the exits from Bnei Brak. The organizers say they want to make the Haredi protesters feel the same disruption that other Israelis have endured for months.