Last month, ultra-Orthodox demonstrators belonging to the extremist Jerusalem Faction breached the home of the head of the IDF’s Military Police in the southern city of Ashkelon to protest the arrest of yeshiva students who had evaded military conscription.

During the incident, which occurred while Brig. Gen. Yuval Yamin’s family was at home, dozens of rioters “trespassed into the yard, acted violently, and disrupted the routine of life in the area,” according to police. Twenty-five of them were arrested.

Responding to harsh criticism of its actions, the Jerusalem Faction was unapologetic, simply stating: “Red lines have been crossed; leave the Torah students alone.”

This simple statement, and the accompanying riot, neatly encapsulate the ideology of the extremist ultra-Orthodox group, numbering some 60,000 members, which regularly holds rowdy demonstrations against the military enlistment of yeshiva students.

While the leaders of the Jerusalem Faction’s anti-IDF campaign have distanced themselves from the illegal actions of those they have mobilized, a Times of Israel investigation has found the group openly and repeatedly boasting of obstructing the arrest of draft evaders, including mobilizing masses of young men, as they wage a campaign aimed at circumventing the government’s already weak efforts to enforce conscription.

Despite the group’s brazen activities, many of which have captured national attention, authorities acting under the orders of a government that critics say is in the thrall of ultra-Orthodox interests have largely failed to crack down on the group in any systematic way, allowing the Jerusalem Faction to continue bringing chaos to Israel’s streets.

תבינו את הדרמה באשקלון: עשרות מפגינים מהפלג הירושלמי נכנסו לתוך ביתו של מפקד המשטרה הצבאית תת אלוף יובל יאמין ומתבצרים שם https://t.co/2ohPMV8KN4 pic.twitter.com/iimgCNsbY3 — יואלי ברים yoeli brim (@yoeli_brim) April 28, 2026

תבינו את הדרמה באשקלון: עשרות מפגינים מהפלג הירושלמי נכנסו לתוך ביתו של מפקד המשטרה הצבאית תת אלוף יובל יאמין ומתבצרים שם https://t.co/2ohPMV8KN4 pic.twitter.com/iimgCNsbY3

— יואלי ברים yoeli brim (@yoeli_brim) April 28, 2026

Among other activities, Jerusalem Faction organizers have been involved in paying evaders financial rewards, have awarded raffle prizes to yeshiva students who refuse conscription orders, and even established more than one “national alert system” to mobilize wildcat street action when someone spots a draft dodger being arrested.

On more than one occasion, messages on the group’s alert system have resulted in mass riots, with those called to the streets overturning patrol cars, vandalizing property and fighting with police, putting some of them in hospitals.

Obstructing police operations

Over the past two years, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community whose exemptions from mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces were revoked under a 2024 High Court ruling. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as evaders and being subject to arrest or other sanctions.

While the military has made no move to arrest all 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18-24 believed to be eligible for service, the detainment of even a small fraction has ignited anger and occasionally violence in the country’s various Haredi enclaves.

At least some of the attempts to prevent arrests have been organized by the Jerusalem Faction, according to an extensive review of email updates sent to supporters of the group’s Notnim Gav (Got Your Back) anti-conscription initiative and its affiliated Tzeva Shachor effort.

Tzeva Shachor, whose name translates to Color Black but also sound similar to Black Army, operates both as a hotline for activists to report arrest attempts and as an alert system to call activists to action in real time.

Multiple messages sent by official addresses maintained by Notnim Gav and Tzeva Shachor appeared to explicitly admit to having actively prevented military and civil police from arresting draft........

© The Times of Israel