Hundreds of thousands of Haredim shut down the entrance to Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon, protesting against the bill that would allow the government to put Haredi (Ultra Orthodox) draft dodgers in jail.

The protest was a peaceful one. The organizers called on participants to not join the army under any circumstances.

According to the organizers, Women in Green, the eyes of the world will be upon the Pollard demo, this Sunday, February 23, at 6 PM, in front of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, 81 Herbert Samuel Street (on the promenade).

“This is the first official Pollard demo in front of the US Embassy. Your presence is needed to ensure that, with God’s help, it will also be the last.”

• Stand up for a just cause, the release of Jonathan Pollard, after 29 years of affliction in American prisons for his service to Israel
• Contribute to absolute Jewish unity on this issue and on the many Jewish and Israeli issues that Pollard’s case represents
• Show the kind of solidarity that will ultimately define not only Pollard’s fate, but the fate of Israel

The caption to this picture, presumably written by the Palestinian photographer, goes:

Palestinians watch as exploding tear gas canisters fall from the sky during clashes at a protest against the expansion of the nearby Jewish settlement of Halamish, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah on January 24, 2014. Photo by Issam Rimawi/Flash90

We’re learning the Book of Joshua in my shul, between Mincha and Maariv on Mondays, and so I quickly grasped the historical significance of the phrase: Palestinians watch as exploding tear gas canisters fall from the sky.

A mysterious hand threw gas canisters on these Arabs from the sky, on Shabbat, as they were trying to thwart Jewish life in the Jewish promised land – I say it’s a sign.

On Friday afternoon, dozens of Israelis protested the ongoing terrorism on road 60 near the Arab village of Beit Omar.

The road is the main highway connecting Hebron, Gush Etzion and Jerusalem. There have been a tremendous number of stone throwings and firebombs against Israeli drivers on this section of the road.

The mayor of Gush Etzion participated in the protest, which involved dancing and singing “Am Yisrael Chai”.

Guards at the Knesset made sure that no one wearing anything with the color orange in it was allowed onto the Knesset grounds for Sharon’s lying in state.

Orange was the color of the protest against Sharon’s Disengagement plan from Gush Katif.

Guards checked visitors carefully for orange bracelets, shirts, banners, and other orange colored clothing or paraphernalia.

One person, inadvertently wearing an orange shirt unrelated to the Gush Katif protest, was turned away from the Knesset grounds and not allowed to pay his respects to the former Prime Minister.

Thirty people who were among those protesting against the upcoming release of terrorists who murdered Israelis, breached the outer security layer that cordons off the street next to the Prime Minister’s home, on Sunday evening.

The protesters managed to enter into the “sterile zone” on the street next to the Prime Minister’s Jerusalem residence.

Police quickly dispersed the protest, and two of the protesters who entered the “sterile zone” were arrested.

Sudanese illegal migrants marching towards Jerusalem (they actually ended up in Beer Sheva) in protest of the new Holot (sands) detention camp, Monday, December 16.

The new anti-infiltration law that was passed in the Knesset a week ago permits residents of the camps—mostly Sudanese and Eritreans—to leave the site until 10 PM each day, provided that they show up for a head count three times a day.

It makes it tough for them to reach any urban center. So now some 250 illegals are refusing to return to the facility.

I don’t envy Israeli politicians and civil servants deposited with the task of managing the population of an estimated 50 to 80 thousand illegals, mostly from war torn East Africa. The connotations are obvious and disturbing. And yet, all these poor, neglected people have been dumped on Israel’s cities’ poorest neighborhoods, turning the lives of local residents into a living hell.

It’s a serious problem, it has to be resolved, and whatever Israel does to alleviate the problem will look and sound terrible. On account of the “camp” part in the term “detention camp.”

Photo credit: Tomer Neuberg/Flash90

The marchers carried signs, no doubt prepared for them by Israeli NGO activists, with Biblical verses about our obligation to treat the foreigners well, because we, too, were foreigners in Egypt.

Of course, one of the conditions the Torah places on the foreigner is to observe the law. Illegal infiltration would probably disqualify them for the accepting treatment advised by the Torah.

Sderot Mayor David Buskila “celebrated” Rosh HaShanah by camping out in a protest tent next to the official residence of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to protest budget cuts to the Gaze Belt town.

He said he intends to remain in tent until the government restores funds that were cut in the austerity budget.

Buskila claimed that the budget cuts will be the death knell for Sderot but that he faces “a wall of incomprehension.”

Last year, the mayor staged a hunger strike until the government came up with funds for Sderot, battered for years by Hamas mortar shelling and rockets, to pay off its deficit and improve its emergency services.