#military-conscription

#military-conscription

A mass ultra-Orthodox Jewish rally against military conscription turned deadly in Jerusalem on Tuesday, when a teenage boy was crushed and killed 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.

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews packed the streets and sidewalks for blocks around the Israeli consulate in New York City on Sunday to protest issues including a potential end of an exemption for religious students from compulsory service in Israel's military. The protest at the consulate, a block from the United Nations campus in Manhattan, illustrated the complex relationship between Israel and segments of the large population of very religious Jews in New York and its suburbs.

"I think it is unequal to only conscript men," said Rosa Collet, 16. Collet, who describes herself as a feminist, opposes military conscription as a whole but believes that where it exists, it should include both men and women.