Fliers distributed throughout the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Beit Shemesh on March 24 called for people to pray for the death of Major Yaakov Rashi, the commander of the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) ultra-Orthodox induction center. These threats against Rashi are part of a violent ultra-Orthodox struggle against the IDF, which broke out over the past few weeks after several rabbinical college students were arrested. The reason for their arrests was that they had violated an accepted procedure, agreed upon by the ultra-Orthodox seminars, and refused to show up at the IDF induction center upon receiving their first draft notice, so that they could request an exemption from military service. This got them listed as deserters.

The protests included violent demonstrations, the blocking of roads and physical attacks against ultra-Orthodox men serving in the IDF and their families. The struggle has intensified over the past few days, reaching its climax in a violent incident captured by a Channel 2 film crew, in which young ultra-Orthodox men and boys attacked a young secular woman, who got caught in the middle of a Jerusalem demonstration. Anyone who has seen the chilling footage cannot help but think that if the woman had not been extracted so quickly by border patrol officers at the site, the incident could have ended much worse than it did.

In the case of Rashi, incitement against him is unhinged and particularly focused on him personally. The demonstrators describe him as nothing less than the enemy and as someone who deserves to die. Rashi, a religious man, was appointed to the position in 2014 as part of the IDF's preparations to fulfill the "Sharing the Burden" law — by which all young men must enlist in the IDF, including ultra-Orthodox men — enacted under the leadership of the Chairman of Yesh Atid Yair Lapid (in the previous Netanyahu government). That law was intended to boost significantly the number of ultra-Orthodox men serving in the IDF.

But then, in 2015, the fourth Netanyahu government overturned the revolutionary new law as part of coalition agreements with ultra-Orthodox parties. Instead, the old status quo — where students of rabbinical colleges are exempt from enlisting — was restored. Since that time, ultra-Orthodox men were no longer required to enlist. They were simply required to show up at the induction center upon receiving their first draft notice so that they could declare that "studying the Torah was their profession." It is hard to believe, but the trigger for these violent demonstrations, which are only getting worse, was the requirement that young ultra-Orthodox men pay a single visit to the induction center, rather than commit to compulsory military service, like all the other Jewish citizens of Israel.