Another 25 Haredi draft dodgers said detained at airport trying to head to Uman

Extremist anti-enlistment group says more than 70 ultra-Orthodox evaders currently in military custody, with figure set to increase in coming days

By Sam Sokol 17 September 2025, 8:16 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Approximately 25 ultra-Orthodox men have been arrested at Ben Gurion Airport over the past two days while trying to fly to the town of Uman in Ukraine for a Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage, the extremist Jerusalem Faction group announced on Wednesday.

The ultra-Orthodox group, which is vociferously opposed to the military enlistment of yeshiva students, had previously stated that close to 30 people had been arrested at the airport on Monday alone. It asserted on Wednesday that there are more than 70 Haredi draft evaders in military custody.

The figures have not been confirmed by the IDF. In a statement, the military said that in coordination with the Population and Immigration Authority, it “conducts regular and continuous enforcement at points of exit from the country through representatives of the recruitment authorities and the military police.”

Every year, tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims, mainly Hasidim, head to Uman from all around the world to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, a Hasidic luminary and founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement who lived at the turn of the 19th century, for Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year — celebrated this year on September 23-24.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties have lobbied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military officials to allow draft-dodging yeshiva students to take part in the annual pilgrimage without fear of arrest, after the IDF started cracking down on Haredi draft evaders in recent months.

However, the Attorney General’s Office said that the government has no right to create a mechanism to let ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers leave Israel, writing a letter to the government late last month asserting that it would be illegal to allow draft evaders to leave Israel for Uman. Those evading conscription are prohibited from leaving the country.

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators burn enlistment orders at a demonstration outside the Beit Lid military prison, August 14, 2025. (Tal Gal/Flash90)

Addressing the Knesset State Control Committee on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, the head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, said that ultra-Orthodox draft evaders who have been arrested by the Military Police have still managed to get out of enlisting thanks to large loopholes, making efforts to detain them a waste of resources.

He added that arrests are expected to ramp up as more Haredi men attempt to fly to Uman in the coming days before the holiday begins.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has repeatedly said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits, citing the strain on standing and reserve forces from the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.

Since the IDF began its recent crackdown on draft evaders, ultra-Orthodox leaders have declared war against conscription efforts and have held numerous protests, including outside the Beit Lid military prison, where many evaders are being held.

On Monday, United Torah Judaism party leader Yitzhak Goldknopf called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to work to release those being held in military prison, “at the very least to allow them to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with their families.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.