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Haredim Protest Jailing of Yeshiva Student Refusing IDF Draft

Hundreds of haredi Orthodox protesters took part in a second day of demonstrations against the jailing of a yeshiva student who refused to present himself at an IDF enlistment center.

The yeshiva student was imprisoned on Sunday for two weeks.

During Thursday’s demonstrations in Kikar HaShabbat in Jerusalem, protesters set trash bins alight and threw stones at police, Haredi protesters demonstrated peacefully Wednesday in front of the Israel Defense Forces’ Prison 6.

The jailed yeshiva student is a follower of Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who has instructed his students not to appear at induction centers after receiving their call up notices.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon in July deferred the draft orders for hundreds of haredi Orthodox yeshiva students. The students had been scheduled to be inducted into the Israel Defense Forces in August through December following the cancellation of the Tal Law, which had allowed haredi men to defer army service indefinitely.

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in February 2012 that the Tal Law was unconstitutional.

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