Haredim

Grapevine, July 24, 2026: Is Jewish unity a myth?

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG receives the credentials of Nauru Ambassador Lara Erab Daniel in 2025.
Ultra-Orthodox protesters outside of the Basimta cafe on Saturday, July 4, 2026.

Jerusalem cafe became symbol of secular defiance, until Israelis learned it's run by Jews for Jesus

Thousands of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from the Gur (Hasidic dynasty) protest outside Military Prison near Kfar Yona, central Israel, against the jailing of seminary students who failed to comply with an army recruitment order, July 20, 2026.

Hundreds of haredim protest outside military prison following draft dodger arrest

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Five Higher Education Council members resign over gender-segregation law


Ofir Sofer is the first religious Zionist leader to say the king is naked - comment

Sofer, the first religious Zionist leader to publicly draw a red line on the draft bill, is making a choice to protect the "future of the IDF" over his own ministerial career.

Minister of Immigration and Absorption Ofir Sofer holds a press conference at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, December 1, 2025.

A defense of Israel's ultra-Orthodox - and a plea to their leadership - opinion

Haredim should organize large prayer gatherings not for their own needs but for the well-being of all our soldiers and all Israelis.

HAREDIM SCUFFLE with police outside Jerusalem’s IDF Recruitment Center, Nov. 12.

New haredi draft bill grants 'amnesty' for haredim called-up since 2023 - explainer

The new haredi draft bill softens personal sanctions, allowing draft evaders to regularize their status around age 26. This flexibility draws sharp criticism from the opposition.

Haredi soldier

Police arrest 14-year-old suspected in attack on MK Yoav Ben-Tzur’s vehicle

The incident unfolded amid heightened tensions in the ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community surrounding military-conscription legislation, which Shas supported.

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators protest at the Bar Ilan intersection in Jerusalem, following the arrest of a haredi draft-dodger.

No more splinters: Israel can no longer fund its own vilification by haredim - opinion

The haredi protest, which took place last week, displayed the 'parisitism dressed up as piety' rampant in the haredi institutions which take public funding but revile the IDF

Masses attend ‘The cry of the Torah’ demonstration in Jerusalem last month. What took place was not holiness; it was hypocrisy, the writer charges.

Israel won’t be saved from the haredim. It will be saved with them - opinion

The real challenge is not the existence of such a community but the erosion of trust and communication between sectors.

THE STREETS of Bnei Brak: The haredim are not a burden on Israel’s back; they are woven into its social DNA, the writer maintains.

Is this next election cycle our last chance to save Israel’s future?

POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Professor Dan Ben-David, a leading economist, warns that Israel’s future depends on urgent education reforms, with the next election potentially its last chance.

Israel has ‘the worst education system in the developed world,’ according to Prof. Ben-David. Here, President Isaac Herzog greets students at the opening of the school year in September at Rambam Religious School in Kiryat Shmona.

WATCH: Horse in distress at yeshiva event for IDF draft dodger sparks outrage

Yeshivat Ateret Shlomo celebrated a student who refused to serve in the IDF. The event drew outrage after a horse fell during the procession, and the yeshiva was warned for mimicking hostage posters.

 Horse in distress at yeshiva event for IDF draft dodger sparks outrage

Struggle for identity: Haredi demonstration reflect a quest for unity - opinion

The goal of demonstrations in general, and mass demonstrations in particular, is to mold the identity of the individual and to strengthen identification with the group and its goals.

THE MASSES attend ‘The cry of the Torah’ demonstration in Jerusalem last Thursday. This time, it seems that the main reason for holding the demonstration was actually intra-haredi, the writer maintains.

Refusing to serve divides society: How haredi draft dodging harms Israel - opinion

Haredi communities who so forcefully asserted themselves in the city did not just make a statement about the draft, but about their relationship with the very country they call home.

Haredi protesters against the IDF draft demonstrate in Jerusalem on October 30, 2025.