Hundreds of young Haredi men clashed with police in Jerusalem Thursday, injuring 13 officers and overturning a cruiser in a riot apparently sparked by an attempt to issue a parking ticket.
Five of the injured officers were taken to the hospital after protesters threw stones and other objects at the forces who arrived at the scene. Police had announced four arrests as of early Thursday evening.
The commotion broke out after a municipal inspector who had been issuing parking tickets in the capital came under attack from two young Haredi men, police said. The pair kicked him and made threats on his life, promising to “slaughter” him if he returned to the area.
Police officers called to aid the inspector in distress arrested one of the assailants, angering locals. Hundreds then gathered around the officers in an attempt to free the detainee, and events quickly mushroomed into rioting.
According to Hebrew outlets, officers had realized that the assailants were draft dodgers and sought to hand them over to the Military Police.
The police only said in their statements that the riots were sparked over the parking ticket, and did not mention whether the pair were draft dodgers.
Police used stun grenades and tear gas on demonstrators.
עשרות מפגינים חרדים מקיפים ניידת משטרה, שלטענתם ניסתה לעצור שלושה עריקים בירושלים@daniel_grovais pic.twitter.com/yhc9HBlS68
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) December 18, 2025
Following the large-scale riots, a group of Haredi men hurled stones at a bus carrying IDF trainees and commanders from the Kfir Brigade in Jerusalem.
According to the IDF, the bus was forced to stop after civilians gathered around it, prompting commanders to disembark and secure the vehicle until police arrived.
Officers dispersed the demonstrators and allowed the bus to continue on its way. No injuries were reported. The military said it “strongly condemns any violence against its soldiers.”
The unrest continued later Thursday night, as officers arrested eight Haredi protesters who attacked law enforcement during protests at the entrance to Ashkelon.
Dozens of young Haredi men tried to reach the coastal city in order to stage a protest near the residence of an officer in the Military Police, the enforcement body responsible for detaining draft evaders. They took buses to the city, but were blocked by law enforcement at the northern entrance. The men then disembarked from the bus and blocked traffic on Route 4, according to police.
מאות מאנשי הפלג הירושלמי חוסמים בשעה זו את כביש 4 סביב מחלף קוקה-קולה. המוחים צועקים ״נמות ולא נתגייס״ pic.twitter.com/e03L0Q84AO
— Yair Foldes (@Yair_Foldes) December 18, 2025
The Jerusalem Faction, a hardline Haredi group behind the would-be protest, said that Ashkelon was “besieged together with him [the Military Police officer]” since police would not allow demonstrators in front of the residence.
“No one goes out, and no one comes in, as part of a mass protest against the horrible crime of persecuting Torah scholars in the Land of Israel,” the group said in a statement, as quoted by Ynet.
The protests were dispersed and Route 4 was opened again to traffic at around 10:30 p.m, police said.
A ‘red line’
The rioting drew widespread condemnation from lawmakers as well as police chief Danny Levy.
Levy called the rioting a “very grave incident” and vowed that police would “hold everyone involved to account.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, said that he “unequivocally condemns the extremist rioting in Jerusalem,” and called the attacks on police officers a “red line.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid called the rioting an “inconceivable failure of the government” and said it signaled the “disintegration of government institutions.”
“It’s unfathomable that Haredi draft evaders can avoid arrest just because they are engaging in violence. The defense minister and prime minister continue to encourage an enterprise of [draft] evasion and refusal on historic scales,” he said in a statement.
According to a spokesman, Lapid’s statement was also in response to two separate overnight incidents in Ramat Hasharon and Herzliya in which dozens of Haredi protesters, mobilized by the extremist ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem Faction, prevented Military Police from arresting draft dodgers.
After blocking the soldiers, the yeshiva students danced in celebration. The Jerusalem Faction runs a “national alert system” that sends warnings of actions against draft dodgers.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men clash with police during a protest following the issuance of a parking ticket, in Jerusalem, on December 18, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
According to Channel 12, Wednesday night’s anti-enforcement protests were the third time this month that protesters had managed to prevent arrests of yeshiva students.
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman declared Thursday afternoon’s riot as “an act of terrorism in every sense.”
“This is what happens when the country’s leadership is in the pocket of Haredi wheeler-dealers,” Liberman posted on X, adding that “patience has run out and the excuses are over, the nation demands enlistment for everyone!”
10 שוטרים נפצעו וניידת הושחתה בעקבות מעצר עריקים בירושלים.
המשתמטים מבינים שהחוק בישראל לא חל עליהם, שלהם מותר הכל – וככה זה נראה.
הגיבוי להשתמטות, ולאלימות נגד כוחות הביטחון מגיע מלמעלה. ראש הממשלה ושר הביטחון אשמים במראות המזעזעים האלה.
הגיע העת לגייס את כולם ולהחזיר את החוק… pic.twitter.com/3B0D9NniLK
— Yair Golan – יאיר גולן (@YairGolan1) December 18, 2025
The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan likewise condemned the violence, saying that “the draft dodgers understand that the law in Israel does not apply to them, that everything is permitted to them — and this is how it looks.
“The backing for [draft] evasion, and for violence against security forces, comes from above. The prime minister and defense minister are responsible for these shocking scenes. It is time to draft everyone and restore law and order in Israel, for the sake of Israel’s security,” he posted.
Ultra-Orthodox politicians declined to comment on the matter. When asked for comment, a spokesman for United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf said only, “We saw this,” and shared a clip of an armored officer hitting young Haredi men with a baton.
שאלתי דובר של גולדנופף להגיב על האלימות בירושלים. הוא שלח לי סרטון שבו שוטר מכה תלמידי ישיבה באלות ואמר: “אנחנו ראינו את זה” pic.twitter.com/97rfyGsbv6
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) December 18, 2025
A spokesman for fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas did not respond to a request for comment on the riot.
Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service but have not enlisted, in line with a long-standing status quo exempting the Haredi community from the mandatory draft.
The highest courts have repeatedly struck down the arrangement and demanded that ultra-Orthodox teens be drafted with the rest of the Jewish population, setting off a scramble to legislate a compromise that would set Haredi enlistment quotas and impose sanctions on those refusing to enlist.
A government-backed bill making its way through the Knesset, which sets yearly quotas, defines ultra-Orthodox as anyone who studied at a Haredi educational institution for at least two years between the ages of 14 and 18.
The bill also grants yearly deferments from enlistment to full-time yeshiva students not engaged in any other vocation, while imposing punitive measures aimed at encouraging them to serve instead. Most sanctions, however, only kick in if enlistment quotas are not reached.