Protesters Block Jerusalem Highway

Tensions boiled over on the streets of Jerusalem on Monday as ultra-Orthodox demonstrators clashed with police over intensifying military conscription enforcement and the arrest of community members for ‘dodging the draft.’

Footage shows hundreds blocking Highway 1 by Strings Bridge, paralysing the western entrance to Jerusalem before police officers moved in to disperse the crowd, deploying water cannons and dragging protesters away from the road.

Opposition to Military Conscription

“All they did wrong was sit and learn and the country that calls itself Jewish does not let them sit and learn. They take them and arrest them due to the draft law,” one protester said.

“Now, even if we all agree that there’s a need in soldiers, the way to do that is definitely not to arrest people, because that will not bring [us] anywhere besides for chaos,” he continued.