Haredi Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted halakha and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are usually referred to as ultra-Orthodox in English; a term considered pejorative by many of its adherents, who prefer the terms strictly Orthodox or Haredi. Haredim regard themselves as the most authentic custodians of Jewish religious law and tradition which, in their opinion, is binding and unchangeable. They consider all other expressions of Judaism, including Modern Orthodoxy, as deviations from God's laws, although other movements of Judaism would disagree.
Yariv Gideon Levin is an Israeli lawyer and politician who serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice. He served as Speaker of the Knesset in December 2022, previously serving that role from 2020 to 2021. He currently serves as a member of Knesset for Likud, and previously held the posts of Minister of Internal Security, Minister of Tourism, and Minister of Aliyah and Integration.
Exemption from military service in Israel is covered by the Israeli Security Service Law, which regulates the process of Israeli military conscription. Per the law, an Israeli citizen who is drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) may be exempted if an evaluation finds them to meet specific criteria. The IDF's conscription laws only apply to three communities: the Jews, the Druze, and the Circassians. Both men and women are drafted from the Jewish community, whereas only men are drafted from the Druze and Circassian communities.
The 2011 Israeli social justice protests, which are also referred to by various other names in the media, were a series of demonstrations in Israel beginning in July 2011 involving hundreds of thousands of protesters from a variety of socio-economic and religious backgrounds opposing the continuing rise in the cost of living and the deterioration of public services such as health and education. A common rallying cry at the demonstrations was the chant; "The people demand social justice!".
In 2013, two independent protests occurred in Israel. In May, an attempt to change the Tal Law, which excluded ultra-Orthodox Jewish men for doing military service, led to protests by Haredi against military conscription. Again in November, Bedouins in the Negev called for a 'Day of Rage' against their displacement by the Israeli government to state developed townships as a result of the Prawer-Begin plan.
Conscription of yeshiva students refers to the conscription of Orthodox yeshiva students in Israel. Since 1977, this community had been exempted from military duty or national service. In 2012, service became mandatory with a penalty of imprisonment for up to five years for draft-dodgers, although that law has never been enforced.
Yehonatan Indursky is an Israeli filmmaker and the creator of the successful Netflix series Shtisel.
Now 14, colloquially referred to as Channel 14, is an Israeli right-wing and conservative commercial television channel and news site. The channel broadcasts news, political commentary, satire and talk shows, all of which are presented from a right-wing perspective. The controlling shareholder of the channel is Yitzchak Mirilashvili.
Hapeles is a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Jerusalem. Like other Haredi newspapers, it is not published on Shabbat, but, instead, is put out as an expanded weekend edition.
Hagai El-Ad, is an Israeli LGBT and human rights activist who served as the director general of B'Tselem between May 2014 and June 2023. Previously, he was director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance.
Noam is a far-right Orthodox Jewish, Religious Zionist political party in Israel, officially established in July 2019 by an extremely conservative faction in the Religious Zionist community inspired by rabbi Zvi Thau and his Har Hamor yeshiva. The party's main goal is to advance policies against LGBT rights, and against what its backers call "the destruction of the family". Avi Maoz, the party's leader, was elected to the Knesset in 2021, and is the party's sole representative.
Moshe Abutbul is an Israeli politician. He serves as the Deputy minister of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and has been elected to the Knesset since 2019. From 2008 until 2018, he served as the mayor of Beit Shemesh.
The thirty-seventh government of Israel is the current cabinet of Israel, formed on 29 December 2022, following the Knesset election on 1 November 2022. The coalition government consists of seven parties — Likud, United Torah Judaism, Shas, Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit, New Hope and Noam — and is led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has taken office as the Prime Minister of Israel for the sixth time. The government is notable for its inclusion of far-right politicians.
From January to October 2023, large-scale protests took place across Israel in response to the government's push for a wide-ranging judicial reform. The proposed reform aimed to give the government full control of the Supreme Court or court decisions through various ways. The government also attempted to dismantle the Israel Bar Association and change the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee.
Brothers and Sisters in Arms, also known as Achim Laneshek and Brothers in Arms, is an organization of reserve men and women from various units in the IDF, operating as part of the protests against the judicial reform being promoted by the thirty-seventh government of Israel headed by Benjamin Netanyahu.
The killing of Yuval Castleman occurred on 30 November 2023, during the Givat Shaul shooting in Jerusalem when Yuval Doron Castleman, an Israeli civilian, charged at the attackers in the shooting, killing one of them, and was subsequently shot by Aviad Freija, an IDF soldier, who mistook him for a terrorist.
Ephraim "Efi" Nave is an Israeli lawyer who served as chairman of the Israel Bar Association between 2015 and 2019. He previously served as chairman of the Bar Association's Ethics Committee in the Central Israel district, as well as the district's chair.
The 2024 Israeli protests are a series of demonstrations, instances of civil disorder, and riots against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, primarily sparked by the Israel–Hamas war and the hostage crisis. The protests aim to pressure Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire and reach a hostage deal. The protests began sporadically at the onset of the war but have grown significantly in size and intensity, culminating in massive gatherings across various Israeli cities.
Eitan Herzel is the founder and CEO of Brothers in Arms, a political movement that was established as part of the protests against the judicial reform.
The Israeli blockade of aid delivery to the Gaza Strip is an Israeli act of protest that began on January 24, 2024, in which demonstrators protested against the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators prevented the passage of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom crossing, at the Nitzana crossing, at the Port of Ashdod, and on the roads that aid trucks traveled on.
