Dozens of ultra-Orthodox anti-draft demonstrators clashed with police and blocked the Route 4 highway near the Haredi city of Bnei Brak on Monday to protest the arrest of two suspected draft evaders the previous night.

Footage from the protest declared illegal by police showed a crowd of young men sitting in front of cars on the highway as a police officer yelled at them through a megaphone, demanding they clear the road.

Haredi street protests over military conscription have increased in frequency, during a national debate over whether and how to draft ultra-Orthodox men.

Monday saw lawmakers vote to advance a Haredi-backed bill banning the use of a putrid spray often employed to disperse such protests. And Opposition Leader Yair Lapid decried an effort to financially support those jailed for draft evasion.

After a 2024 High Court decision struck down sweeping exemptions from conscription for Haredi men, the military began sending those men draft notices and, more recently, arresting some who did not obey the notices. Military police attempting to arrest draft evaders have at times encountered street demonstrations.

Protests have also coalesced over a bill in the Knesset that would enshrine draft exemptions for most yeshiva students — but which many Haredim believe does not go far enough, and whose future is uncertain. And protesters have gathered at IDF induction centers where Haredi men are enlisting.

The protests frequently see young men block roads and surround buses. Last month, a teenage boy was killed after a bus drove........

© The Times of Israel