‘We’re fighting and dying, and they’re not’ – religious IDF reserve soldier on ultra-Orthodox protest against draft

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) protested in the streets of Jerusalem on Thursday against being drafted into the military.

The war that followed Hamas’ October 7 attack has deepened long-standing divisions within Israeli society — between the general Jewish population, including many religiously observant Israelis who serve in the Israel Defense Forces, and the ultra-Orthodox community, most of whom refrain from from military service on religious and ideological grounds.

Growing frustration among reservists, including those who are themselves religiously observant, centers on what they see as an unequal sharing of the burden of national defense.

“I feel that it is unfair that our Haredi brothers do not join us in arms,” said M., a 35-year-old IDF reservist who has served in multiple combats since Oct. 7, 2023.

“My unit has done five rounds. We have lost three guys – three were killed in an ambush last year. We have [been] wounded. You should know that [in] our company of 80 guys, the majority are now religious,” M. said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

M., who completed a yeshiva (religious studies) program, believes that there is a disconnect between the Haredi protesters and religiously observant IDF soldiers.

“It’s not like we’re all secular,” he said. “We have prayer, we have a minyan, we have all the things. And we are serving, and we are working, and we are fighting and we are dying and they are not.”

M. said that the ultra-Orthodox community’s opposition to sharing the burden of military service has fueled growing resentment toward it.

“Now, more than ever, I feel like they are parasites on our society, just taking and taking,” he said. “They have the audacity to fight against us and against the world that we’ve created and the security that we’ve provided them.”

M. argued that there is no contradiction between religious observance and serving in the military, noting that IDF combat units increasingly include religious soldiers.

“The Dati Leumi – the Modern Orthodox – are the ones going in and becoming fighters,” he said. “You look at the casualties of the past two years. So many religious soldiers were killed. It’s me, my guys, my friends, people from my background.”

“It’s troubling and frustrating to see them try to wiggle out of being a real brother,” he said. “I feel distant from them. I feel unloved by them. And it hurts – because we’ve done so much for them. Everyone who’s fighting is doing it for all of us,” M. added.

Looking ahead, he warned that the current situation is unsustainable.

“The Haredi community doesn’t seem to understand that the current situation cannot continue. It cannot be that those who leave the yeshiva and do not study contribute nothing. I am strongly in favor of national service for those who don’t study,” he said.

As for the protest on Thursday, 200,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews rallied against military enlistment.

Yehuda Yosef, one of the protesters, told Ynet News, “I came to Jerusalem to cry out. Thousands of yeshiva students are at risk. We must stay in our yeshivas and stand firm. The world exists because of Torah, and we’ll follow our rabbis no matter what the Knesset decides.”