Police and protesters clashed in Bnei Brak on Sunday after efforts to detain draft-eligible yeshiva students set off hours of unrest in the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) city east of Ramat Gan. Witnesses described large crowds blocking major roads, setting trash bins on fire, and confronting officers as police moved to disperse what authorities said had become an unlawful gathering. Video carried by Israeli media showed mounted police and riot units pushing into dense groups of demonstrators as projectiles were thrown and several arrests were made.
The confrontation came after weeks of rising tension over the enforcement of conscription orders, with protests spreading from Jerusalem to other Haredi strongholds. Demonstrators accused police of heavy-handed tactics, while officials said enforcement was unavoidable after repeated refusals to comply with draft procedures. By evening, the streets where the clashes unfolded showed the marks of disruption—gridlocked traffic, damaged property, and a sense that a long-simmering political dispute had spilled into a volatile public flashpoint.
The violence in Bnei Brak did not erupt in isolation. It is the latest flare-up in a decadeslong dispute between the Israeli state and parts of the Haredi community over military service—a conflict visible as far back as protests in Jerusalem neighborhoods in the 1970s and 1980s, when small fringe groups clashed with police over arrests and conscription enforcement.
Back then, participation was limited and largely localized. Today, the scale is different: The Haredi public is far larger, politically institutionalized, and deeply embedded in the national debate.
In recent weeks, repeated arrests of draft-eligible yeshiva students, demonstrations in Jerusalem, and mounting coalition disputes have converged into street clashes. The escalation marked a turning point, shifting a legal and political argument into a social confrontation playing out in public space.
They don’t want to become the new type of Israeli Jew that the army produces
Rabbi Joshua Pfeffer, a rabbi in Jerusalem and head of the Iyun Institute, a Jerusalem-based Haredi policy and research organization, described the logic behind resistance to enlistment: “There’s clearly an ideological dispute here. The Haredim, or many within the Haredi sector, do not want to see Haredi boys go into the IDF because they see the IDF as a melting pot for creating a different type of Jew, and they want to be the old type of Jew that we had in Europe and elsewhere. They don’t want to become the new type of Israeli Jew that the army produces,” he told The Media Line.
Pfeffer emphasized that while the ideological divide is longstanding, the recent violence crosses a line: “What we see is an ideological dispute that turns into disgraceful violence. … These kinds of violent breakouts are untenable,” he noted.
At the institutional level, the crisis stems from a legislative vacuum. Israel historically allowed broad exemptions to help rebuild Torah scholarship communities after the Holocaust. Over time, demographic growth turned what began as a limited arrangement into a structural issue.
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Dr. Gilad Malach, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, described the pressure points: “The heavy burden on those who serve in the army is affecting a lot, such as reserve duty, and on the other side, the majority of ultra-Orthodox do not serve, so socially there is a lot of tension between the two, especially after October 7,” he told The Media Line.
He pointed to the legal backdrop: “The legislation that gave ultra-Orthodox Jews permission to postpone and actually to be exempt from serving in the army is not relevant anymore, so until there is a new legislation, they are obliged to serve,” he noted.
The military dimension is equally immediate. The army has issued tens of thousands of draft orders to ultra-Orthodox men, turning a theoretical dispute into daily enforcement: “The army has called around 70,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the army, so this makes a lot of tension within ultra-Orthodox society,” he said.
Historically, violent anti-draft activism was associated with fringe groups. Malach said the current protests show wider participation. “In the past, it was a very tiny group, known as Keshet, doing these actions, and now it’s a broader group—the Jerusalem faction—that is very important in leading these protests,” he noted.
The Bnei Brak confrontation followed months of mounting friction. Pfeffer linked it to a pattern of arrests and street mobilization: “The army and the police have been making arrests of Haredim within their neighborhoods over the past months, sparking big demonstrations and unrest. The case of Bnei Brak is a continuation of this phenomenon, which turned once more into real violence against the police,” Pfeffer said.
Public debate often treats the ultra-Orthodox as a single bloc, but both interviewees stressed the community’s internal diversity. Pfeffer put it plainly: “My community is not one community. The Haredim are one and a half million people in Israel, so this cannot be seen as one society. It’s much too big and much too diverse.” He added that change is already underway: “There are changes taking place within the Haredi sector, schools that promote responsibility and partnership and a sense of belonging with Israel.” He said important shifts, “such as people enlisting in the army,” are happening.
Beyond the immediate unrest lies a structural concern: population growth. The ultra-Orthodox community is among the fastest-growing in Israel, and Malach warned the trend could reshape the national service model. “If today the share of ultra-Orthodox is around 24%, in 2050 it will be almost 40%, so you can’t talk about a people’s army if almost half of the people do not serve,” he said.
Pfeffer argued that the original rationale for sweeping exemptions has weakened: “The community of Torah study is much bigger than it ever was before. … The continued exemption from the draft doesn’t make sense. … You’re benefiting from the defense of the state but not participating in the defense.”
The dispute is also becoming a central political fault line, with elections expected by the end of the year. “Currently, this is one of the main factors that can collapse the coalition, since ultra-Orthodox factions oppose the draft bill from within [the government], but for sure this issue will be central in the upcoming elections, and things may take a turn differently,” Malach said.
He also pointed to sharper rhetoric from religious leadership: “The ultra-Orthodox rabbis are very tough with their statements against the state and against the army. … It’s not just extremists; it’s the atmosphere in the mainstream. They have power over their own community and in shaping consensus,” he said.
Pfeffer urged caution against broad-brush stereotypes: “It’s not all of the Haredim acting and thinking this way, and we shouldn’t stereotype. … But, for sure, religious leaders have a role to play in this equation,” he noted.
Malach cited resentment over perceived inequities as another accelerant: “They are getting billions of shekels more than regular citizens if you compare the nonpayment of taxes and the money they receive as help from the state. Currently, they receive less than they used to, but for many Israelis, this is still not acceptable, since everyone in a country should have equal duties and rights,” he noted.
Pfeffer, for his part, stressed a shared identity beneath the dispute: “The great majority in the Haredi sector doesn’t see the rest of our brothers and sisters in Israel as enemies. … We work together toward a shared future,” he said.
The unrest in Bnei Brak does not appear likely to remain isolated. “I don’t think it’s going to be the last episode, and for sure, more violence will occur,” Malach concluded.
Between demographic growth, unresolved legislation, military demand, and political polarization, the conscription dispute has moved from uneasy compromise to a defining national debate. What began decades ago as a narrow exemption now tests the sustainability of Israel’s traditional “people’s army” model—and is poised to shape the country’s politics in the months ahead.