Ultra-orthodox Jews sprayed with ‘skunk water’ at military service protest

Jewish protesters campaigning against military service outside the Israeli supreme court have been washed out by security forces who sprayed the group with a crowd-control substance.

Six ultra-Orthodox Jews covered their faces as they were sprayed with skunk water, a non-lethal substance used by the Israel Defense Forces to control large demonstrations.

The religious group began protesting outside of the court in Jerusalem on Tuesday following a ruling for ultra-Orthodox Jews to be conscripted into the army, despite them having been long exempt from serving.

The court decided that pressure for manpower in the country’s ongoing war in Gaza was so great that the exclusion should be scrapped, forcing Jewish seminary students into the Israel Defense Forces.

“At the height of a difficult war, the burden of inequality is more than ever acute,” the court’s unanimous ruling said.

The court did not say how many yeshiva students will be made to enlist but said it would roll out conscription gradually and begin with 3,000 this year, in addition to those who had signed up voluntarily.

However, ultra-Orthodox Jews have demonstrated against the decision since it was made, blocking roads and holding banners reading “death before conscription”.

Pictures showed skunk water covering the faces of protesters seated outside the court in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem. 

The substance was first used in the occupied West Bank in 2008 and is made from a mixture of yeast, baking powder and water, with a putrid smell to deter demonstrators.