Police rescue Israeli women soldiers chased by ultra-Orthodox Jews

TEL AVIV — Violent unrest erupted in an Israeli city as members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community clashed with security forces over alleged military conscription.Riot police in Bnei Brak, on the edge of Tel Aviv, intervened to rescue two female soldiers after being chased by a crowd of ultra-Orthodox men. Police used stun grenades and pepper spray to disperse the crowd, they said in a statement.Protests broke out after the two female soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces entered a neighborhood to deliver draft notices, triggering outrage on the streets. Demonstrators burned garbage, blocked roads, overturned a police vehicle and set a motorcycle ablaze. Footage from the city of Bnei Brak showed the two women running through streets strewn with rubbish and overturned bins as police officers formed a protective barrier. More than 20 people were arrested after police safely evacuated the soldiers amid escalating confrontations, police said, adding three officers were injured and several police vehicles damaged.Responding to the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the riots as “unacceptable”.”This is an extreme minority that does not represent the broader Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community,” Netanyahu said in a post on X.”We will not allow anarchy, and we will not tolerate any harm to IDF servicemen and security forces who carry out their duties with dedication and determination.”Military service is mandatory for most Jewish Israelis, but Orthodox Jews have long been exempt. Moves to reform this have caused outrage among the community.The IDF servicewomen had been on an official home visit to another soldier when the confrontation broke out, Israeli broadcaster Kan reported.Late last year, hundreds of thousands of people took part in of one of the biggest anti-conscription protests by ultra-Orthodox Israelis in years.The issue of conscription has become increasingly contentious during the war in Gaza, with the Israeli government now debating draft legislation that would require ultra-Orthodox men not in full-time religious study to serve.Since Israel was created in 1948, students enrolled full-time at a religious school, or yeshiva, have been exempted from conscription.That exemption was ruled unconstitutional by Israel’s High Court of Justice more than a decade ago. Temporary arrangements to continue it were formally ended by the court last year, forcing the government to begin conscripting the community.The ultra-Orthodox population has more than doubled its share of Israel’s population over the past seven decades, and now accounts for 14%. — Agencies