Israeli police in Jerusalem have used force to break up a demonstration by ultra-Orthodox Jews who were protesting against the conscription of religious students into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The community had been exempt from military service since the foundation of the state in 1948. However, the country’s top court recently declared this practice to be devoid of any legal basis.
The decades-long agreement between the Israeli government and the Haredi community had been extended several times until it expired last year. Amid the ongoing military operation against Hamas in Gaza, the Supreme Court did away with the privileges on June 25.