Jerusalem on Lockdown as ‘Million Man Rally’ Paralyzes Capital in Showdown Over Haredi Draft Bill
Jerusalem was brought to a near standstill Thursday as tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators flooded the capital in protest of the government’s evolving military draft bill, forcing the closure of major highways, canceling rail service, and turning the city’s western entrance into a massive, chanting sea of black hats and banners.
A City Sealed Off
By noon, Highway 1, Israel’s main artery between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, was effectively sealed. Police blocked entry to the capital from Latrun to Ginot Sakharov, while the alternate Route 16 was intermittently closed. Even the sleek Yitzhak Navon high-speed train station was shuttered by early afternoon as security officials braced for gridlock of historic proportions.
Authorities urged citizens to “avoid Jerusalem altogether,” as traffic spilled over to Routes 443, 44, 38, and 3. Exiting the city remained possible through the Arazim Tunnel, but movement was slow, chaotic, and tightly policed. Jerusalemites attempting to reach neighborhoods such as Givat Shaul, Ramot, or Har Nof found themselves trapped behind rows of patrol vehicles and barricades.
More than 2,000 police officers, Border Police, and volunteers were deployed, coordinating through a special command unit established by Netivei Israel’s National Traffic Management Center, a wartime-like operation complete with real-time drone monitoring and communications relays.
💢Jerusalem at Standstill Amid “Million Protest”
— Leah Weiss (@Weisslbj333Leah) October 30, 2025
Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox protesters flood Jerusalem in a massive demonstration against military conscription. Major roads including Route 1 are blocked as crowds march toward the city center. pic.twitter.com/TXZO1MmNYc
The “Million Man Rally” and the Battle for the Torah’s Draft
The rally, branded by organizers as “The Cry of the Torah,” was billed as a last stand for the ultra-Orthodox world. Backed by Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), the protest was not just about conscription, it was about identity, religious autonomy, and the fear that Israel’s founding covenant between statehood and faith is being rewritten by secular lawmakers.
Haredi leaders called upon “a million faithful Jews” to descend on Jerusalem to defend “the sanctity of Torah learning from the sword of forced enlistment.” Loudspeakers blared Psalms and speeches denouncing what they described as “a decree of spiritual annihilation,” while massive posters labeled the pending legislation a “war against the people of Israel.”
Downtown Jerusalem: Growing stream of Haredim (ultra-Orthodox) on their way to today’s mass protest against the drafting of Haredi yeshiva students.
— Owen Alterman (@owenalterman) October 30, 2025
We’ll be covering it on @i24NEWS_EN pic.twitter.com/a2ZD3lIpOu
Political Earthquake Beneath the Piety
The legislative firestorm was reignited this week after Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud) confirmed he would unveil the new draft outline next Monday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahureportedly requested the delay to personally review the language, a move widely interpreted as political damage control amid coalition fractures.
Earlier this year, UTJ and Shas dramatically resigned from the government after failed negotiations over the conscription framework originally advanced by Likud’s Yuli Edelstein, who was subsequently replaced by Bismuth. His revised version, leaked to Channel 12’s N12, reportedly scraps key enforcement measures, including mandatory quotas for haredi combat enlistment, effectively reverting to earlier drafts that critics say rendered the law toothless.
✡️ — WATCH: After highway 1 was closed, thousands made their way to Jerusalem by foot to the protest. pic.twitter.com/b4l1xmKQ3X
— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) October 30, 2025
Among the reported revisions:
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Elimination of quota requirements for ultra-Orthodox combat soldiers.
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Inclusion of civil service roles in the count of “national contribution.”
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A softened definition of who qualifies as haredi, potentially broadening exemptions.
These shifts, opponents argue, gut the legislation of meaning, while supporters insist they “preserve Israel’s spiritual core.”
Ultra-Orthodox Israelis watch a religious IDF soldier play a piano plastered with stickers of Israeli victims of this war, as other Haredim make their way to an anti-conscription protest that has shut Jerusalem’s central train station; caused mass road closures; and even shut… pic.twitter.com/LlUqVMG4Il
— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) October 30, 2025
Jerusalem: A Stage for the Soul of a Nation
By mid-afternoon, the western entrance of the city transformed into an arena of religious defiance. Rows of buses, allowed through by special coordination with police, offloaded chanting yeshiva students who linked arms and sang hymns under the banners of “Am HaTorah Chai” (“The Nation of Torah Lives”).
At the same time, secular and religious-Zionist Israelis watched with mixed emotion, some with sympathy, others with anger, as vital infrastructure shut down under the weight of theological protest.
Within the city, Givat Shaul Street, Yafo Street, Shazar Boulevard, Herzl Boulevard, and other major arteries were entirely blocked. Access was restricted to residents of nearby communities such as Shoresh, Beit Meir, Mevaseret Zion, and Abu Ghosh, who were required to show ID to pass through checkpoints.
📍Jerusalem – A Moment of Irony and Unity
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) October 30, 2025
In one direction, thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews march toward a protest against IDF conscription.
In the other, IDF soldiers walk past them, heading the opposite way.
It’s a striking scene, full of tension and truth.
But make no… pic.twitter.com/GNPYgFEOsd
Beyond the Protest: Israel’s Unfinished Cultural War
Thursday’s upheaval underscores what has become the most explosive domestic fault line in Israel’s modern era — the clash between national defense and religious exemption. With the IDF stretched thin across multiple fronts, the issue of equal service has transformed from a policy debate into an existential question: Can Israel remain both a Jewish and democratic state when one sector bears nearly all the burden of defense?
As Bismuth’s proposal inches toward committee debate, the ultra-Orthodox leadership is betting that mass mobilization will once again paralyze the political process, a tactic that, at least for one day, succeeded spectacularly.
Jerusalem, the eternal capital, became a battlefield not of bullets, but of beliefs, and the outcome may yet determine the future covenant between faith and state in the land of Israel.
