Ultra-orthodox Jews protest in Jerusalem against military draft

JERUSALEM — Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel are feeling very, very threatened — as well they should be.

This is the first government in Israeli history that has proposed significantly altering the "status quo" — an arrangement achieved by the state's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, with the leadership of the shards of ultra-Orthodox Jewry that survived the Holocaust.

That pact has changed drastically over the past 65 years, and the majority of secular Israelis is no longer prepared to fund the educations of ultra-Orthodox men who choose study over work, and who often have families with more than 10 children. The majority no longer supports ultra-Orthodox exemptions from military draft and the tax-paying life.

On Thursday, ultra-Orthodox protesters made it clear that changing the status quo won't come easy. An estimated 30,000 men dressed in traditional black cloaks marched on the Israeli Defense Forces recruitment center.

The demonstration, which resulted in about a dozen injuries, was striking for its violence — an indication of the desperation and alienation many of these young men feel.

Eight protesters face charges today.

Minister of Interior Security Yitzhak Aharonovich said he found the event "appalling and shocking" and said the rock-throwers and those who assaulted police officers are "criminals who will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law."

“The government wants to uproot [our traditions] and secularize us,” Rabbi David Zycherman told Reuters. “They call it a melting pot, but people cannot be melted. You cannot change our [way of life].”

Israelis must serve two or three years in the military when they turn 18; however, ultra-Orthodox Jews are often exempted on religious grounds.