JERUSALEM:&nbsp;One person was killed, and three were injured during a protest in Jerusalem on Tuesday against a law to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli armed forces, emergency crews said. A bus ran over and injured three pedestrians, then drove on and struck an 18-year-old who got trapped under the vehicle, the Magen David Adom emergency service said. &ldquo;Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene,&rdquo; the agency said. Manpower shortages&nbsp;Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had taken to the streets to protest a law to conscript them to the army, as the military faces manpower shortages after two years of war on multiple fronts.Mass demonstrations against the law have been taking place on a regular basis in recent months. According to a police statement, Tuesday&#39;s protest turned violent after &quot;a small group of rioters began violently disturbing public order, including by blocking traffic routes, damaging buses, setting trash bins on fire, throwing objects and eggs at police officers and Border Police, shouting invective, and assaulting journalists working at the scene&quot;. The police added that the bus &quot;was blocked by rioters who were... obstructing the route&quot;.&nbsp; Driver arrested&nbsp;The driver was arrested and under questioning alleged &quot;that he was assaulted by rioters, after which the unfortunate incident occurred&quot;. Israeli police sources quoted by local media ruled out concerns the event was a terror attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under pressure from the opposition and some coalition partners to increase the number of military recruits, but ultra-Orthodox party leaders -- traditionally Netanyahu allies -- oppose the conscription of religious students, who form a large part of their constituency. De facto passUnder a ruling established at the time of Israel&#39;s creation in 1948, men who devote themselves full-time to studying Jewish texts are given a de facto pass from mandatory military service. But this exemption has come under mounting scrutiny from the rest of Israeli society -- particularly when tens of thousands of conscripts and reservists are mobilized on several fronts, despite the fragile truce that has ended the war in Gaza. 14% of Jewish populationThe ultra-Orthodox make up 14% of Israel&#39;s Jewish population. Keeping ultra-Orthodox parties on board is key to the survival of Netanyahu&#39;s right-wing coalition. In November, a new draft law was put forward in the parliament&#39;s foreign affairs and defense committee, after a previous conscription bill was voted down in July. The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party quit the government over that bill, and now Netanyahu&#39;s coalition only holds 60 out of 120 seats in parliament. Resignations&nbsp;Ministers from the other main ultra-Orthodox party, Shas, resigned from the cabinet over the issue, though the party has not formally left the coalition. In late October, a teenage boy fell to his death from a high-rise during another mass protest against the conscription law in Jerusalem.&nbsp; Israeli media said his death was likely to be a suicide, as the boy had left a farewell message on his Instagram account.

Middle East

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had taken to the streets to protest a law to conscript them to the army, as the military faces manpower shortages after two years of war on multiple fronts.

Teen killed in anti-conscription protest in Jerusalem

BEIRUT: Lebanon&#39;s health ministry said two people were killed and another wounded in two Israeli strikes on the country&#39;s south Saturday, the latest attacks despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. In a statement, the ministry attributed the death to an &quot;Israeli enemy strike on a car in Haruf, Nabatiyeh district&quot;. The ministry then reported another Israeli strike on a motorcycle in Qlaileh, Tyre district, which killed one person. The Israeli military said it had killed Zayn al-Abidin Hussein Fatouni, alleging he was &quot;a commander in the anti-tank unit of the Radwan Force Battalion&quot; of Hezbollah. According to the army&#39;s statement, Fatouni &quot;was involved in efforts to re-establish Hezbollah&#39;s terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon&quot;. The military did not immediately comment on the attack on Qlaileh. Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah. The Israeli military has intensified its attacks over the past week, killing two people in two separate strikes on vehicles Friday. The military said it had killed a Hezbollah &quot;logistics commander&quot; in the first strike and a member &quot;who was involved in efforts to reestablish Hezbollah&#39;s military capabilities&quot; in the second. A series of Israeli raids Thursday on southern and eastern Lebanon killed four people, including an elderly woman, with the military saying its targets included a weapons depot, a training camp and military infrastructure. Last week, a United Nations special rapporteur told AFP that deadly Israeli strikes on civilian vehicles in Lebanon could amount to war crimes, despite Israel&#39;s assertion they targeted Hezbollah members. As part of last year&#39;s ceasefire deal, Israeli troops were to withdraw from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River and dismantle any military infrastructure in the south. Under US pressure and fearing an escalation of Israeli strikes, the Lebanese government has moved to begin disarming Hezbollah, a plan the movement and its allies oppose. Despite the terms of the truce, Israel has kept troops deployed in five border points it deems strategic.

The Israeli military said it had killed Zayn al-Abidin Hussein Fatouni, alleging he was "a commander in the anti-tank unit of the Radwan Force Battalion" of Hezbollah.

Lebanon says two killed in Israeli strikes on south

NEW YORK: Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews packed the streets and sidewalks for blocks around the Israeli consulate in New York City on Sunday to protest issues, including a potential end of an exemption for religious students from compulsory service in Israel&#39;s military. The protest at the consulate, a block from the United Nations campus in Manhattan, illustrated the complex relationship between Israel and segments of the large population of very religious Jews in New York and its suburbs. The two influential, and often rival, grand rebbes of the Satmar community both called on adherents to participate in the demonstration.&nbsp; The Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada, a consortium of Orthodox Jewish groups, said it helped organize the protest. It comes after Israel&#39;s Supreme Court last year ordered the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the military.&nbsp; Enlistment exemption There had been a longstanding enlistment exemption &mdash; dating to the founding of Israel in 1948. The ultra-Orthodox worry that mandatory enlistment will impact adherents&rsquo; ties to their faith.&nbsp; But many Jewish Israelis have argued that an exemption is unfair. Rifts over the issue have deepened since the start of the war in Gaza. &lsquo;Freedom and liberty&rsquo;Rabbi Moishe Indig, a Satmar community leader, said he&#39;s not sure organizers expected so many people to show up but he said he felt urgency building around the issue. He said he was appreciative of the governments in New York and the US &ldquo;for giving us the freedom and liberty to be able to live free and have our children go to school and study and learn the Torah.&quot;

Americas

There had been a longstanding enlistment exemption — dating to the founding of Israel in 1948; the ultra-Orthodox worry that mandatory enlistment will impact adherents’ ties to their faith. 

Articles tagged with "Israeli military"

Teen killed in anti-conscription protest in Jerusalem

Lebanon says two killed in Israeli strikes on south

Thousands of Orthodox Jews protest Israeli draft changes in New York

Teen killed in anti-conscription protest in Jerusalem