Ultra-Orthodox Jews clash with Israeli police over army draft

In Israel, a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews known as Haredi have been disrupting traffic near a military conscription office east of Tel Aviv. They tried to stop new recruits arriving at a base. Police intervened and forcefully removed them. In mid-2024, Israel's Supreme Court overturned a longstanding policy of exempting Jewish seminary students from military conscription. It's been a divisive topic in Israeli society and politics. ever since. Let's go live now to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Al Jazeera's Noor Odeh is there. So, Noor, ultra-Orthodox activists protesting today over military conscription. Is this community trying, perhaps, to influence government formation efforts? Most definitely, Adrian. The ultra-Orthodox community is known as the kingmakers in Israeli politics. They've helped governments from the left and the right get to power or stay in power, as we saw the past four years with Benjamin Netanyahu. Conscription is a very important issue for them. And they're upset with Benjamin Netanyahu that he failed to adopt a law that would exempt them from that military service, as he promised. But they're also very weary of the change block, as it's called, led by Gadi Eizenkot, which has pledged to introduce legislation that would enforce military, civilian, and other forms of mandatory service for all without exemption. So this is one more reminder to all involved that their voices have to be heard. Thank you. Eisenkot needs to talk to them. There are, in fact, news that there are some back channels of dialogue with at least one of the ultra-Orthodox parties with the Gadi-Eisenkot bloc. The Netanyahu bloc has made talking to Palestinian-Israeli parties a political controversy. But these parties are offering Eisenkot a path towards power, aren't they? What are they saying right now? That's right. I mean, together with these parties, Gadi Eizenkot has 67 mandates in the Knesset against Netanyahu's 53. And this is what we heard from thousands of protesters in Tel Aviv. Now, what the Palestinian-Israeli leaders are saying is we're here, our hands are extended, we will offer the change block path to electing a new speaker of the Knesset, to taking hold of the legislature, and if Gadi Eizenkot is serious, then we're ready to talk to him about supporting his swearing in as Israel's new prime minister. This is, of course, Very controversial, partly because Gadi Eizenkot is hesitant, but also because Benjamin Netanyahu, as we're seeing in revelations in Israeli media, has personally pushed for investigations and accusations about bribery and fraud and even foreign money and interference in the elections particularly aimed at Palestinian Israelis. These accusations have amounted to naught, and in fact, that direct involvement from From the Prime Minister's office... This is now itself a controversy because it is one more form of abuse of power that Netanyahu's detractors accuse him of.