Jerusalem’s streets were awash in black hats, banners, and prayers on October 30, 2025, as more than 300,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews—known as Haredim—gathered in what organizers dubbed a "Million-Man March." The demonstration, one of the largest in years, brought Israel’s capital to a standstill, revealing the raw nerves exposed by the government’s push to end decades-old military draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox community.
According to the Associated Press, the protest has emerged as the most serious threat yet to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s embattled government. The issue of who serves in Israel’s military—and who is excused—has divided Israeli society for decades, but the stakes have rarely been higher. As the country continues to grapple with the aftermath of the 2023 Gaza war and ongoing conflicts in Lebanon and Iran, public frustration is boiling over, especially as military casualties mount.
Protesters began flooding into Jerusalem early Thursday, many arriving from across the country. Dressed in traditional black attire, they carried placards with messages like “The people are with the Torah” and “Closing the yeshiva — a death sentence for Judaism,” reported Al Jazeera. Some set fire to tarpaulin sheets. The demonstration, described by Haaretz as a mass prayer rally, included participants from all major streams of the ultra-Orthodox world: Lithuanian, Chassidic, and Sephardic communities. Throughout the day, the city’s main arteries were gridlocked, and the central train station was shut down by midday. Authorities deployed about 2,000 police officers, including Border Police, to secure the event and direct traffic, as JTA noted.
The protest was not without tragedy. During the demonstration, a 20-year-old man, Menachem Mendel Litzman, fell from a construction site and died, police said, in what appeared to be a suicide. JTA also reported the death of a 15-year-old boy under similar circumstances. The demonstration remained mostly peaceful, though incidents of violence were recorded. Two ultra-Orthodox soldiers, a police officer, and several journalists—including Channel 12 News reporter Inbar Twizer—were attacked by some protesters, with objects thrown at them during live coverage.
At the heart of the protest is the Israeli government’s recent crackdown on draft evasion. In the past year, thousands of call-up notices have been sent to members of the ultra-Orthodox community, and several yeshiva students have been jailed for refusing to enlist. According to the Israel Democracy Institute, of the 19,000 summonses issued by June 2025, only about 5% reported to induction centers, and a mere 1.2%—just 232 men—were actually conscripted. The arrests of three yeshiva students last week, in particular, appeared to cross a red line for many in the community, prompting calls from leading rabbis for a mass prayer assembly.
The roots of the exemption run deep. When Israel was established in 1948, the ultra-Orthodox community was a tiny minority, and the state granted blanket exemptions to full-time Torah scholars—initially just a few hundred men. Today, the ultra-Orthodox make up 14% of Israel’s Jewish population, about 1.3 million people, with roughly 66,000 men of conscription age currently benefiting from the exemption, as reported by AFP and Al Jazeera. Over the decades, the arrangement has become a flashpoint. Many secular Israelis see it as an unfair burden, especially as wars and conflicts have demanded ever-greater sacrifices from the general population.
That frustration reached new heights after the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in June 2024, which declared that, without a specific law differentiating yeshiva students from other citizens, Israel’s mandatory military service laws must apply equally to all. The decision effectively ended the decades-long system of exemptions and left the government scrambling to find a political solution. Prime Minister Netanyahu had long promised to pass legislation enshrining the exemption, but as of October 2025, he had failed to deliver.
The fallout has been swift and severe. The ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas—both once pillars of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition—have either withdrawn support or resigned from the cabinet. The coalition, now down to 60 seats in the 120-member Knesset, teeters on the brink of collapse. Shas, which holds 11 seats, has warned it will pull out entirely unless exemptions are guaranteed by law. Meanwhile, at least 11 new political parties have registered ahead of expected national elections in late October 2026, signaling a period of intense political volatility.
Protest organizers and community leaders argue that Torah study is itself a form of national defense, a spiritual shield for the Jewish people. In a statement issued during the rally, organizers declared: “The Torah is what stood for us at all times to protect and save, and even these days the holy Torah is the one that protects the Jewish presence in the Holy Land and the people of Israel, and it is only thanks to it that we exist… The rally expresses its firm demand from the authorities that the arrangement that has existed throughout the years regarding Torah students must be maintained with all due vigilance.”
Rabbi Dov Landau, a leading figure in the Lithuanian haredi community, told Ynet, “I heard that a terrible incident took place in the Land of Israel. Yeshiva students were arrested. It seems to me, and if you think so, [we should] hold a large assembly of many prayers. It can help in every way, and if that’s what you think, then I think it’s the right thing to do right now.” Many ultra-Orthodox leaders warn that conscription risks alienating young men from religious life and fear that, once exposed to secular influences, yeshiva students may never return to their communities. They argue that anyone who dedicates his life to Torah “must not be burdened with any other burden, for they are the hope of our people.”
But not all voices in the ultra-Orthodox world are united. Some rabbis acknowledge that those not engaged in full-time study could serve, and army reports suggest a slow, though still modest, increase in ultra-Orthodox enlistment—just a few hundred over the past two years. Meanwhile, critics of continued exemptions, including secular Israelis and opposition politicians, have labeled proposed new legislation as a “draft evasion law.”
As dusk fell and the rally’s organizers called for an end to the demonstration, many protesters lingered near the city’s entrance, clashing with border police. The chaos at bus and train stations spilled into the night as thousands tried to return home, underscoring just how deeply this issue cuts across Israeli society.
The battle over military conscription is far from resolved. With national elections on the horizon and Netanyahu’s government under unprecedented strain, the debate over who serves—and who is exempt—promises to remain one of Israel’s most contentious and consequential political dramas.
