(JTA) — An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 anti-Zionist haredi-religious Jews protested Sunday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn against the conscription of haredi yeshiva students into the Israel Defense Forces and the arrest of draft dodgers.
Most of the participants in the rally were from the Satmar hasidic sect, whose Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. and Canada organized the rally. Other hasidic sects did not appear due to infighting, according to Yediot Ahronot. Satmar believes a state of Israel should not exist until the Messiah comes.