On October 30, 2025, some 200,000 ultra-Orthodox men blocked the entrance to Jerusalem to protest against military conscription. Billed as a prayer rally, portions of the crowd climbed cranes and unfinished buildings, clashed with some of the 2,000 police officers deployed in the capital and harassed female journalists reporting from the scene. The IDF says it needs 12,000 additional combat soldiers due to the deaths and injuries of thousands of soldiers over the two years of war. A Times of