In recent days, and especially over the past few nights, traveling by public transport in central Jerusalem and the surrounding areas has turned into an experience of helplessness. Similar disruptions were recorded not only across Jerusalem but also in nearby Beit Shemesh, where road closures and clashes spread into residential neighborhoods. Major streets such as Yehezkel Street, the Shmuel HaNavi area and the Bar-Ilan Junction have been blocked again and again, forcing bus drivers to drop passengers far from their destination, make U-turns and return to their original terminals.
Behind the blockades stands a broad ultra-Orthodox protest against the draft law, alongside demands to continue and even expand state funding for the sector. Exemptions from IDF service, child allowances for large families, budgets for religious schools and additional designated subsidies are all part of a struggle being waged in the streets, but one that directly harms citizens who have nothing to do with it.
The result is visible on the ground. Passengers are ordered off buses in the middle of their route, some with children and strollers, and are forced to continue on foot for hundreds of meters and sometimes kilometers. Taxis often cannot reach the blocked areas, and in other cases unusually high fares are charged to those trying to find a way around the roadblocks.
What does a commute look like when Jerusalem’s arteries are blocked?
“The bus suddenly stopped, the driver said there was no passage and told everyone to get off,” one passenger says. “There was no stop, no explanation. We just walked.”
These scenes repeat themselves again and again, especially around the Sanhedria Junction, along Golda Meir Road and on the climbs from Har Hotzvim, which are no longer accessible to the city center because of the closures. Passengers find themselves stepping off buses far from their destination, searching for an alternative route and discovering that even navigation apps are useless when every main road is blocked.
The closures are not limited to Jerusalem alone. In Beit Shemesh as well, particularly in the Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood, prolonged blockades and clashes have been reported as part of the expansion of the protest and the pressure campaign on the government.
Who pays the price for the battle over the draft law and money demands?
From the Jerusalem District Police it was said that “over the past hours police forces and Border Police units have been operating against violent disorderly conduct in Jerusalem and Ramat Beit Shemesh, where attempts are being made to block the passage of buses, with rioters throwing objects and stones, setting garbage bins on fire and damaging vehicles, while physically blocking traffic arteries and harming the daily routine of civilians, and after an illegal protest was declared officers began evacuating the rioters and continue to act decisively to restore order and bring those involved to justice.”
Beyond the clashes, the main victims are the residents of Jerusalem and nearby cities. Workers arrive home late, students are stranded on the roads, parents are forced to carry bags and babies through blocked streets. Road closures at junctions such as Bar-Ilan and Yehezkel are not just a political or religious protest, they are a direct blow to the daily routine of an entire city.
In Jerusalem, where public transport is a central lifeline, every blockage immediately becomes an urban crisis. And when the protests spill over into Beit Shemesh and nearby communities, the impact spreads far beyond the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods themselves, leaving thousands of passengers to pay the price for a struggle that is not theirs.
