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When asked why IDF reservists aren’t taking to the streets, Maj. (res.) Yoav Adomi has a sharp reply: “We’ve been on the streets for two years already — in Shejaiya, Salah al-Din, the Jenin refugee camp, Quneitra. Now we’re calling on the Zionist public to join us, to stand with us and say: enough.” “We can’t allow this situation to continue,” Adomi continued, “where the ultra-Orthodox community refuses to share the duty of defending the state. This is a security, economic, and social threat. Those who serve can’t keep carrying those who don’t. If we don’t act now, Israel will collapse. The reservists saved Israel on October 7, and they’ll save it again from this disastrous law.” Adomi, one of the leaders of “The Israeli Reservists - Generation of Victory,” will stand on Thursday opposite ultra-Orthodox demonstrators gathering at Jerusalem’s entrance for the “Million Man Rally” against the draft. Joining him will be other IDF reservists, wounded soldiers, and bereaved families as part of a “Show of Strength for Israel’s Security.” The event is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Binyanei HaUma parking lot. Adomi, 47, from Ramat Gan, is the deputy commander of the 8111th Battalion. He has completed 350 days of reserve duty since the war began and already holds another emergency call-up order for January. “Since MK Boaz Bismuth took office, he’s met with us only once,” Adomi said. “He claims he can meet each delegation just once, but he meets the ultra-Orthodox all the time. Meanwhile, his office keeps briefing that his draft bill is good, when in fact it’s dangerous for Israel’s security. It takes us ten steps backward.” He added, “The plan proposed by MK Yuli Edelstein was bad, but Bismuth’s version is even worse. It returns us to the ‘small and smart army’ concept — just hoping for the best. It’s clear this law won’t survive a Supreme Court challenge and will only prolong the current situation until next year’s elections.” Noa Mivorach from Lod, whose husband Tomer serves as a battalion doctor in the Carmeli Brigade, will also join the protest. Tomer, an ordained rabbi who studied for years in yeshiva, has already served 330 days in reserves and is heading out for a sixth tour on Sunday. “We’re religious,” she said. “We show that it’s possible to be observant and serve. Our participation in this war is a commandment straight from the Torah. When Abraham learns that his relative Lot was captured, he doesn’t sit and study — he gathers fighters and rescues him. That’s our reality, and that’s the real commandment today.” Mivorach said her message to the ultra-Orthodox protesters is one of empathy, not hostility. “They need to understand that our call for them to take part in this fight isn’t born of hate, but of belonging — they’re our brothers. I’ll stand there and ask them to look me in the eyes, to see me. On Sunday, my heart will again be full of fear, my sleep will be lost, and my kids will again face the long absences of their father. Look at me and understand — this call for partnership is because we have no other choice.” Also attending will be Sgt. First Class (res.) Yair Weigler of Moshav Bar Giora, founder of the “Religious-Zionist Reservists Forum.” He has served roughly 300 reserve days with the 188th Brigade during the war, while his partner Shira, gave birth to their daughter, Yahel, between deployments. “Let the ultra-Orthodox and the politicians look me in the eyes after these two years,” he said. “Let them see the pain and anger I carry. Forces are already stretched thin in the West Bank, and some brigades are on their sixth rotation. This isn’t about equality — it’s about survival. We need the draft for security.” Weigler said the forum was founded to give a voice to the religious-Zionist and right-wing base calling for a fair conscription law. “We realized the only way to stop this bill is for our own camp to speak up. This is our coalition, our people — and it’s unacceptable that our representatives keep silent. In recent days, that silence has become unbearable. They once claimed they were working on a historic law, but we told them it’s a bluff.” He added, “Honestly, it would be better if no law were passed at all than this one. It’s full of clauses that would drag us a decade backward — recognizing ZAKA volunteer work as military service, delaying economic sanctions by a year, forming a Haredi-controlled committee to void penalties, removing the employment incentive clauses, restoring the exemption age to 26, limiting yeshiva studies to two years, and defining anyone who ever studied in a yeshiva as ultra-Orthodox even if they leave the community. These are just some examples. We’ll be there to stop it.” At 2:30 p.m., thousands of ultra-Orthodox men are expected to gather at the entrance to Jerusalem to protest military conscription. The rally will bring together Hasidic, Lithuanian, and Sephardi factions in what could become one of the largest Haredi demonstrations in years. Until now, anti-draft protests were mainly led by fringe groups such as the Jerusalem Faction and the Eda Haredit, which drew only a few hundred participants. If senior rabbis from Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Degel HaTorah indeed lead the event, it could draw tens or even hundreds of thousands.
