WATCH: Anti-draft protesters try to block roads into Tel Hashomer base, prevent haredi enlistment

Ya'akov Dori Street in Kiryat Ono, from Levi Eshkol Street to Shlomo Hamelech, is blocked in both directions, Israel Police said, urging drivers to take alternate routes.

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox (haredi) protesters attempted to block access roads leading to the Tel Hashomer IDF recruitment base in an effort to prevent haredi enlistment into the military on Monday morning, as the second day of the August 2026 haredi draft cycle began. 

Ya'akov Dori Street in Kiryat Ono, from Levi Eshkol Street to Shlomo Hamelech, is blocked in both directions, Israel Police said, urging drivers to take alternate routes.

Footage shared across social media shows protesters clashing with security personnel in the streets outside of the base, as police work to disperse the protesters and reopen the roads.

The protesters reportedly slept on the ground outside Tel Hashomer in order to be there when recruitment began early Monday morning.

The current enlistment wave, which began on Sunday and sparked its own wave of anti-draft protests, is expected to continue over the next two weeks and includes hundreds of young men from the haredi sector who will be integrated directly into combat roles.

A 'significant step forward'

The new recruits will be assigned to designated haredi tracks, including the Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the Kfir Brigade, the Hashmonaim Brigade, the Hetz Company in the Paratroopers Brigade, and the Negev Unit in the Israeli Air Force.

The Shomer Yisrael association, the national organization for integrating haredim into the IDF, expressed satisfaction with the numbers, saying that the organization’s intensive work through its pre-military academies and haredi hesder yeshivas is proving effective and producing tangible results on the ground.

“We are seeing a significant step forward today,” said Lt. Col. (res.) Yossi Levi, CEO of Shomer Yisrael. “The haredi young men arriving at the Bakum [Tel Hashomer] this morning are proving that it is possible to combine strict adherence to a Torah-based identity with a direct contribution to the country’s security on the front lines."

"Our mission is to continue building a framework for them that will allow them to perform meaningful service while maintaining their way of life.”

The spirit of enlistment was clearly visible among the new soldiers at Tel Hashomer.

“I simply wanted to be part of it," said Itamar Reinhold, a graduate of the Nitzotz Ba’emunah pre-military academy who is enlisting in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion. "My brother served in Netzah Yehuda and fought throughout the entire war in Gaza, and that gave me inspiration.”

Shmuel Cohen, a friend of Reinhold, added that “It is very important for me to contribute to the country and be part of the system that protects all of us.”