Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Israelis converged on Jerusalem on Thursday for a mass demonstration against efforts to enlist some of them in the military, a protest that is likely to deepen divisions in a country reeling from two years of war.
Huge crowds of protesters chanted prayers and shouted slogans against the secular state outside prominent ultra-Orthodox institutions, blocking many of the city’s main thoroughfares.
The show of strength came as the Israeli government has tried to find a legal and political compromise to end the decades-old practice of granting exemptions from military service to most ultra-Orthodox seminary students.
Read Full Article »