Several thousand people rallied in Jerusalem on Thursday evening to demand ultra-Orthodox enlistment to the IDF, and against government-backed legislation seeking to reinstate blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

Hundreds of young men and women who are set to enlist in the army participated in the demonstration, alongside reservists and the parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters of serving soldiers and reservists who all marched from the Bridge of Strings at the city entrance down to the Knesset where the rally was held.

Several prominent politicians were also in attendance, including former prime minister Naftali Bennet, Leader of the Opposition Yair Lapid, former IDF chief of staff and Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, and National Unity leader MK Benny Gantz.

Notably, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who was removed by the coalition from his position as chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for opposing the government’s legislation on Haredi enlistment, was also present at the rally.

For the past year and a half, the ultra-Orthodox leadership has pushed for a law that would largely keep its constituency out of the Israel Defense Forces, after the High Court of Justice ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.

The government is currently trying to pass new legislation to reinstate exemptions for most of the Haredi community, but is facing significant pushback.

Also prominent among the participants was the large number of religious-Zionist men and women of all ages........

© The Times of Israel