A haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protest denouncing the IDF draft in northern Jerusalem blocked roads, including Shivtei Israel Street, and was considered disruptive, Israel Police announced on Sunday night.
Dozens of haredi protesters blocked Shivtei Israel street on Sunday, according to a statement from the Israel Police spokesperson.
Officers from Israel Police's Special Patrol Unit and Border Police personnel were dispatched to the demonstration in nothern Jerusalem after protesters failed to comply with orders from the police to clear the roads.
The police stated that they were working to clear the road and disperse the protesters.
Netanyahu said he would not freeze arrest of haredi draft evaders if re-elected
The protest followed reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told officials that if re-elected, he would not advance the contentious law that seeks to freeze the arrests of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft evaders, which his coalition recently passed last month.
Netanyahu said the legislation was unsuccessful and that it would be discontinued in the next government, according to a Sunday KAN report.
The report further added that Netanyahu had said draft evaders who do not study Torah will either “enlist or go to prison.”
Netanyahu had also reportedly said during the Sunday meeting that the law freezing draft-dodger arrests was meant to be only a temporary solution, intended to “lower the flames and increase the number of recruits among the haredi public,” according to the KAN report.
The prime minister also said in the meeting that after the next elections, he plans to establish a “broad national government” that will pass a “full conscription law that meets the IDF’s needs,” a separate N12 report added.