Hundreds of haredi men marched in Bnei Brak on Sunday in support of 160 draft evaders who had served time in military prison; the gathering also marked the launch of Tzeva Shahor, a haredi protest party, N12 News reported.
Organizers concealed the march’s political purpose, fearing police or rabbinical authorities would stop it. Tzeva Shahor began as an alert network to warn supporters when military police were trying to arrest haredi draft evaders. The 160 men had been stopped while trying to leave for Uman for Rosh Hashanah, not in a proactive arrest operation.
Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot called the march “Netanyahu’s walk of shame” and accused the government of promoting draft evasion. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman said Netanyahu had no government without the haredi draft evaders.
