Coalition lawmakers join Haredim in protesting arrest of draft dodgers

Multiple coalition lawmakers joined ultra-Orthodox MKs on Wednesday to protest the detention of two Haredi yeshiva students arrested as part of an ongoing IDF enforcement operation against draft evaders.

In an open letter, MKs belonging to the Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism, Noam and Likud parties condemned the arrests of Ariel Rosenzweig and Yisrael Meir Taharani as excessive and unreasonable, declaring that they “demonstrate a lack of understanding of sensitive situations” by the military and legal authorities.

Rosenzweig, a student at the Neve Eretz Yeshiva, was detained this week during the seven-day mourning period for his late father, while Taharani was arrested last month while marking his sheva brachot, the seven-day celebratory period following a wedding.

Rosenzweig was subsequently released from custody, while a military court on Thursday ruled to release Taharani, according to the Jerusalem Faction, a hardline ultra-Orthodox group opposed to conscription.

“We…express our protest against the arrest of the groom Yisrael Meir Taharani and the orphan Ariel Rosenzweig as part of the detention operation led by the Attorney General’s Office, following the failure to regulate the status of yeshiva students,” the lawmakers’ wrote — asserting that despite their disagreements on the issue of enlistment, they were united in opposition to these specific arrests.

“There is no doubt that these are not dangerous criminals,” but young men caught up in a larger issue, the letter said, calling on the relevant authorities to “ensure that in these cases, and in the future, discretion is exercised and arrests in such sensitive situations—where any reasonable person would agree they are inappropriate—are avoided.”

Haredim celebrate the sheva brachos of a detained draft dodger outside a military prison last Wednesday. (Video courtesy the Jerusalem Faction.) pic.twitter.com/HPQmKjXb0a

— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) September 15, 2025

The letter was initiated by United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush and aside from lawmakers from the ultra-Orthodox UTJ and Shas parties, the letter was also signed by MK Avi Maoz (Noam), Likud MKs Tally Gotliv and Galit Distel Atbaryan, Religious Zionism MKs Simcha Rothman, Zvi Sukkot, and Michal Woldiger, and Otzma Yehudit MKs Limor Son Har-Melech and Zvika Fogel.

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 Israel Defense Forces has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.

For the past year, the Haredi leadership has pushed to pass a law largely keeping its constituency out of the IDF, after the High Court ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.

In the absence of an exemption law, the IDF and the Attorney General’s Office this summer announced a new plan to bolster enforcement against draft evaders, leading to an increase in the number of arrests and a wave of anti-conscription protests by members of the Haredi community.

Ultra-Orthodox politicians have raged against such operations, describing them as “religious persecution” aimed at criminalizing Torah scholars,

‘A combination of absurdity and stupidity’

Asked for comment, MK Sukkot told The Times of Israel that while he generally believed “the way to recruit people into the army is not through arrests,” his objections in this instance were limited to the cases of Taharani and Rosenzweig.

“As long as there’s no new law, the existing law applies. I’m certainly in favor of upholding the law,” he said.

Taharani and Rosenzweig’s detention did “not advance the enlistment of Haredim to the army,” a spokesperson for MK Rothman, the chairman of the powerful Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, declared, calling their arrests “a combination of absurdity and stupidity.”

MK Fogel said: “Anyone who does not respond to a draft notice must be arrested,” but “I expect law enforcement to be a bit more sensitive when it comes to someone sitting shiva or getting married on the same day. The arrest can be carried out a day or two later. That’s why I signed the document.”

Both MKs Har-Melech and Gotliv also opposed the way in which the arrests were carried out, with Gotliv arguing that a law conscripting members of the ultra-Orthodox community not engaged in full-time Torah study should be passed.

The arrests of Haredi evaders are taking place “even though the same effort is not being made against non-Haredi evaders,” argued Gotliv. “At a time when we are making a great effort to reach an agreement on legislation that will lead to the enlistment of Haredim who are not engaged in Torah study, it would have been better to avoid such scenes. In any case, I signed the letter for the simple reason that I cannot stand by while such degrading and unnecessary arrests are carried out.”

Har-Melech stated, “I certainly believe it is a great mitzvah to enlist, and I want to see more and more of those who do not study Torah join the combat units and bear the burden of the people of Israel.” But she asserted that the way the arrests were carried out was “not Jewish.”

‘A disgrace and a shame’

Members of the opposition slammed those who signed the letter, arguing that they were acting against their own voters’ values.

The participation of “coalition MKs, including those calling themselves national-religious, is a disgrace and a shame,” said Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which is currently working on legislation to regulate the conscription of yeshiva students.

“Instead of defending draft evaders and criticizing the police and army for doing their jobs, they should have promoted a significant draft framework to fill the ranks of the IDF…This is weakness and kowtowing to the Haredim, who continue the absurd campaign of evasion in the name of Torah,” he added.

In a statement, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman asked what Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism chairmen Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich “will tell their voters.”

“The State of Israel needs a large and strong army. No letter will help; we will mobilize everyone,” he said.