A mass ultra-Orthodox Jewish rally against military conscription turned deadly in Jerusalem on Tuesday, when a teenager was crushed to death after a man driving a bus hit the crowd.
The Israeli police said they detained the driver and are investigating. Video of the scene shows a bus driving straight into a crowd of ultra-Orthodox men at the demonstration, attended by thousands. Police have not released the name of the driver.
Israel's Magen David Adom emergency services said the 18-year-old boy, who had been trapped under the bus, was pronounced dead on the scene.
A preliminary police investigation found that the bus driver was attacked by rioters who were blocking the road before the incident.
“The Israel police stresses that violent rioting, blocking traffic arteries and attacking vehicles cross a red line, endanger lives and could end in great tragedy,” the force said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he feels "deep pain over the death of the dear Yeshiva student, Yosef Eisenthal" and that "the circumstances of this tragic disaster will be fully investigated in order to learn all necessary insights and lessons."
He called for "restraint to prevent the mood from becoming further inflamed, so that, Heaven forbid, we do not have additional tragedies."
The debate over mandatory military service, and those who are exempt from it, has long caused tensions within Israel's deeply divided society and has placed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under increasing political strain over the past year.
The ultra-Orthodox community regularly holds protests, which can draw hundreds of thousands of participants. Violence sometimes breaks out at rallies outside enlistment centres or when police arrest draft dodgers.
The leaders of Israel’s fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community are overwhelmingly opposed to military service, fearing that time in uniform would draw young men away from their highly conservative and isolated way of life. Many communities are also non-Zionist or anti-Zionist, believing that the modern state of Israel is man-made and not worth fighting for instead of religious study.
Many also say that staying in religious institutions to pray is better protection for the state and Jews than military service.
The arrangement excluding ultra-Orthodox men from military service has been controversial for decades. The exemption came into place at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, in a bid by the nation’s leaders to help the community rebuild after the devastation of the Holocaust.
