Haredi lawmaker Meir Porush relocates his office to the Ministry of Justice and begins a daylight hunger strike to protest arrests of yeshiva students dodging IDF service.
In a stunning act of political defiance, Member of Knesset Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) has taken his protest directly to the gates of Israel’s legal power. On Thursday morning, the veteran ultra-Orthodox lawmaker set up a symbolic strike outside the Ministry of Justice in Jerusalem, targeting Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over what he calls the “persecution” of the Haredi community.
Porush’s fury erupted after the recent arrest of several yeshiva students who had failed to report for mandatory IDF service. In response, the MK has not only vacated his Knesset office—but pledged to carry out all parliamentary duties from the sidewalk of the Justice Ministry. Alongside his relocation, he declared a daylight hunger strike, refusing food and drink each day from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
“If my Haredi brothers are being jailed, then I too will suffer beside them,” Porush announced. “The Attorney General is disrupting the peace of an entire community.”
Known for his biting sarcasm, Porush went further, suggesting that Baharav-Miara may next ban Haredim from driving:
“I think next week she’ll decide Haredim can’t use the roads—after all, the Ministry of Transportation subsidizes them with tar.”
The fiery protest taps into a longstanding tension between Israel’s legal establishment and the ultra-Orthodox sector, particularly regarding military conscription, which many Haredim oppose on religious grounds.
Porush has vowed to return to his protest site daily, describing it as both a political and personal mission.
“I’ve come to strike here, and here I will stay,” he declared.
The protest has already begun drawing attention from supporters and critics alike—raising the stakes in the ongoing debate over religious exemption from military service and the wider cultural clash within Israeli society.
