Haredi anti-draft march in Bnei Brak doubled as launch event for a protest political party - report

"In Netanyahu's Government of Evasion, the deserters are the heroes," Gadi Eisenkot claimed, dubbing the march "Netanyahu's walk of shame."

Hundreds of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men marched through Bnei Brak on Sunday in support of 160 haredi draft evaders who served time in military prison, but the event doubled as a launch for "Tzeva Shahor," (Black Color) - a haredi protest party - N12 News reported early on Monday.

The event's organizers hid the political nature of the march out of fear that police or rabbinical authorities would stop it.

Tzeva Shahor is a haredi political party and movement that started as an anti-conscription alert network created to alert supporters if military police were attempting to arrest haredi draft evaders.

The draft evaders, "prisoners of Torah" were not arrested during a proactive operation but rather stopped when attempting to exit the country to visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman for Rosh Hashanah.

Israeli politicians respond to the march

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar Party, described the march in Bnei Brak as "Netanyahu's walk of shame," in a post to X/Twitter on Sunday evening.

"In Netanyahu's Government of Evasion, the deserters are the heroes," he explained. "A government that promoted evasion, abandons security, and for months hasn't even bothered to arrest deserters - can no longer hold the helm of Israel's leadership. Its days are numbered."

"In a month's time, we will replace the Government of Evasion with a Zionist mobilization government that will pass a real draft law to strengthen the IDF as the people's army, honor those who serve, and impose sanctions on evaders," he added.

Avigdor Leiberman, leader of Yisrael Beytenu, echoed Eisenkot's sentiment, saying that "Without them (the haredi draft evaders), Bibi has no government."