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Hundreds of thousands of Israelis ultraortodoxosdressed in their traditional suit and black hat, blocked the center of Jerusalem for a massive demonstration against attempts to recruit haredi men for the Israel Defense Forces (FDI).
The protest, named ‘The million dollar meeting’, It will bring together different currents of the ultra-Orthodox community for the first time in a decade.
The trigger for this mobilization was the recent arrest of several students of Talmudic schoolswho had refused to report to the army after tens of thousands of draft orders were issued to members of the community.
Apart from the protest, there have also been highway closures and public transportation boycotts as a sign of rejection of the measure.
One of the images of the day that has gone viral on social networks is a video in which you can see several ultra-orthodox people heading to the protest crossing paths with soldiers on the stairs of the city subway.
Jerusalem, this morning. IDF soldiers pass ultra-Orthodox men on their way to protest against the conscription law — a protest that forced Jerusalem’s central train station to shut for most of the day.
The video was taken by @Yehonchiwho finished today another around of IDF… pic.twitter.com/2Pj6kdkzp4
— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) October 30, 2025
For decades in Israel, the Haradis, which represent 14% of the population, They were exempt from military service, but a Supreme Court ruling last year ended this exception. A bill on the recruitment of this population is currently being debated.
The matter puts Benjamin Netanyahu, since it governs in coalition with two ultra-Orthodox parties -Shas and United Torah Judaism (JUT)- who are frontally opposed to the recruitment of young Torah scholars.
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox blockade Jerusalem against compulsory military service.
Reuters
On the other hand, a large part of Israeli society considers this difference in treatment an injusticeespecially in the wake of the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu has tried to negotiate legal formulas that would allow the obligation to be relaxed for the ultra-Orthodox—for example, establishing minimum recruitment quotas or prolonging the transition—but so far the responses of the ultra-Orthodox parties have been negative and they have threatened to withdraw from the government if a single student from the ultra-Orthodox etalmudic schools es forced to enlist.
The Government argued before the Supreme Court that a drastic imposition could “tear apart Israeli society,” reflecting the existing deep tensions between religious and secular sectors.