Fifteen-thousand people participated on Sunday in an extremist haredi rally which took place outside Barclays in New York.
Participating in the rally were Satmar groups, several hasidic Rebbes who identify with Satmar's view of the Israeli government, and supporters of the haredi extremist "Yerushalmi Faction" group.
The Satmar Rebbe claimed Israel "kidnaps" young boys from their parents and yeshivas in order to draft them into the "army of religious persecution."
He also blamed haredim for taking coalition "bribes" in the form of budgets for their yeshivas.
"Five years ago, when the evil decree drafting yeshiva boys was made, the entire haredi world made noise and fought against it," the Satmar Rebbe said. "Now, when they're part of the government and they receive enormous budgets, they can't see the truth anymore."
"Bribery blinds the eyes of the wise, and they no longer see the evilness of the decree."
The vast majority of the haredi community in the US did not attend the rally. In fact, only one of the two Satmar sects attended it; the other, led by Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, said that since he does not agree with those initiating the rally, his community should refrain from attending.
For the past two weeks, rabbis and hasidic rebbes in Israel have been working to prevent the US haredi community from taking part in the rally, since there is no longer any "decree" forcing yeshiva students to draft into the army.