June 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
At least 12 people have been arrested during a strong protest organized by more than 200 ultra-Orthodox Jews late on Thursday against a military prison in central Israel to free a young Haredi accused of skipping the draft and which ended up leading to a assault on the prison.
All of the detainees have been charged with attempting to break into the Neve Tzedek military base prison and causing material damage to the center’s perimeter. Police have confirmed that protesters broke down some of the entrance doors and also attacked police cars. Images of the center collected by ‘The Times of Israel’ reveal a graffiti with the phrase “Army = persecution of the Jews”.
A military officer who was present at the incidents confirmed to the Walla portal that the protesters tried to break into the base by breaking down the entrance gate, but failed to reach the prison and were arrested.
Ultra-Orthodox girls are generally exempted from military service, but on several occasions they have ended up in detention because they have not even bothered to apply for the exemption, one more phenomenon of many that occur in the midst of the legal maze that is now the system of recruitment in the country.
The current recruitment law grants the ultra-Orthodox, particularly women and religious, some extraordinary exemptions. It was suspended in 2017 by the country’s Supreme Court but it is still in force thanks to constant extensions, a total of fifteen since the decision of the high court, waiting for some Israeli government to approve an alternative in this regard.
