JERUSALEM -- Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews rallied in Jerusalem on Sunday to protest emerging legislation that could end their sweeping exemption from military service.
The country’s capital was paralyzed as access to Jerusalem was blocked. Government offices, schools and courthouses closed early, and public transportation was halted to accommodate the mass prayer called by rabbinical leaders.
Under heavy police protection, black hats bobbed as the crowd of demonstrators swayed in prayer or danced to express their opposition to a military draft that many decried as a “war against religion.”
In an unusual move, religious women were encouraged to attend the protest, standing separately from the men.
For decades, Israel’s ultra-Orthodox have been effectively exempt from military service. Those dedicating their life to Jewish scholarship in religious schools called yeshivas could defer indefinitely their being drafted.
