IDF to Build Haredi Training Base in Jordan Valley Amid Draft Crisis
The IDF has decided to build a Haredi training base in the Jordan Valley at a cost of tens of millions of shekels. The facility is intended to house all training for Haredi service tracks, both combat and noncombat.
The announcement came a day after thousands of ultra-Orthodox protesters took to the streets against IDF enlistment and the arrest of draft evaders, causing major traffic disruptions nationwide. The demonstrators traveled in convoys from 20 locations toward Military Prison 10, moved slowly with signs reading “Enough,” and blocked or slowed key roads. Police said the resulting congestion affected Route 1, parts of which were closed, as well as Route 6 and other arteries. Route 4 remained open.
During the protest, a pregnant woman was moderately injured in a crash on Route 1. Police said the accident was caused by the protesters’ slow driving. They also said that in some places, demonstrators entered traffic lanes and endangered themselves and other road users, adding that the disruptions did not match the terms agreed with organizers. MK Yitzhak Goldknopf joined the protest, and his vehicle slowed traffic on Route 1. During the convoy, his driver activated the siren illegally.
Goldknopf said he was acting “by the instruction of the great rabbis” to protest “the persecution of the Torah world” and the arrest of young Torah students. He also said that “Torah study will continue in the Land of Israel, in the whole world,” and warned that the situation would not continue. In separate remarks to Kol Berama, he said, “There will come a day when we turn the state upside down,” and, “We’ll take the prisons and turn them into yeshivas.” MK Meir Porush said Israel is “the only country in the world where Torah learners are arrested,” adding, “This is only the beginning.”
The convoy was organized by Agudat Yisrael and promoted with slogans such as “We are all with the prisoners of the Torah world” and “A car procession for Torah learners.” A protest rally is scheduled for Saturday night in Bnei Brak, led by former Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. Shas chairman Aryeh Deri was not invited, amid internal tensions in the party over the draft-exemption issue.
