Thousands of black-garbed men block highways and battle with police to protest attempts to draft them into the army.
Al-Jazeera - 07 Feb 2014
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews have blocked highways across Israel
to protest attempts to draft them into the army, clashing with police
who fired stun grenades at large crowds of black-garbed men.
The violent protests on Thursday came just days after a Supreme Court
ruling ordered funding halted to ultra-Orthodox seminaries whose
students dodge the draft and laid bare one of the deepest rifts in
Israeli society, highlighting the fundamental disagreements between its
secular majority and a devout minority over the character of the Jewish
state.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews have for years been exempt from military service, which is compulsory for other Jewish Israelis.
The arrangement has caused widespread resentment and featured
prominently in last year's election, after which the ultra-Orthodox
parties lost ground and found themselves outside the governing
coalition.
Read more....
No comments:
Post a Comment