Haredim threaten to bolt coalition as IDF launches operation against draft dodgers

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday confirmed that it had launched a “routine” Military Police campaign to detain people who ignored enlistment orders following the latest round of call-ups.

News of the arrest raids sparked a political firestorm, with ultra-Orthodox politicians threatening to bring down the government over the move. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is already on rocky ground due to its failure so far to pass legislation reestablishing yeshiva students’ exemptions from military service, which were struck down by the High Court last year.

In a statement, the IDF said, “Last night, there was an [arrest] operation close to the draft period as has been carried out previously, in an equal manner across all segments of society and against anyone who did not show up as required.”

The comment came after reports claimed that the army would launch large-scale arrest raids on Wednesday targeting Haredi draft dodgers.

The army said the campaign on Monday night was aimed at a total of 36 people evading conscription, and not just ultra-Orthodox men. The IDF would first make contact with those not showing up at induction centers and attempt to sort the matter out voluntarily, and would only afterward carry out arrests.

It is unclear how many arrests actually took place.

The detainees would either face disciplinary measures or a criminal trial, depending on how long they had ignored draft orders. In general, Military Police arrest campaigns are aimed at those who ignore recent draft orders, and therefore only face disciplinary — not criminal — measures.

It was the third arrest campaign against draft dodgers since the beginning of the war, with the previous ones taking place in November 2024 and March 2025, according to the army.

The military noted that last week, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir instructed the Personnel Directorate to come up with a plan to send out more draft orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community

“The plan is currently being prepared,” the IDF said.

Speaking with the Haredi news site Kikar Hashabbat last week, UTJ lawmaker Yaakov Asher warned that if the Knesset did not pass draft exemption legislation by the end of the summer session, on July 27, his party would no longer be able to remain in the government.

“If this law does not pass in this session… we will have a very big problem sitting in such a government, period,” he said, adding that UTJ “cannot be part of a government” that turns Haredim into “criminals.”

Shas and United Torah Judaism are currently boycotting private member bills brought by members of the coalition in an effort to pressure Netanyahu to push the controversial enlistment legislation through.

With the news that the IDF plans on significantly increasing enforcement, many in the Haredi community are “very worried,” Yisroel Cohen, an ultra-Orthodox journalist with close ties to the Haredi parties, told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.

“It could bring this whole story to an explosive end. If they arrest even one or two yeshiva students in the street, it could bring about a big crisis, even potentially prompting the Haredim to dismantle the government,” he said.

“If they go to the yeshivas, it will breach every red line,” Cohen added.

Senior ultra-Orthodox political officials informed Netanyahu on Tuesday that the launch of a large-scale enforcement operation against Haredi draft dodgers could bring about their “immediate resignation from the government,” national broadcaster Kan reported.

Speaking with the Ynet news site, a senior Haredi party official declared that “if dozens and hundreds of yeshiva students are indeed arrested, as we are currently seeing, these will be the government’s final days.”

Similarly, an unnamed United Torah Judaism official told Army Radio that “as soon as there is one arrest tomorrow, we will shut down the government and begin the dissolution process.”

This rhetoric echoed Shas chairman Aryeh Deri’s statement last month that the government would not survive the arrest of yeshiva students.

“As long as… there is no proactive action by the state to arrest yeshiva students, we will continue to be part of the government, but as soon as there is such an arrest, even one… that is a red line for us,” Deri told his ultra-Orthodox party’s HaDerech newspaper.”We will not be able to continue to be a part of such a government.”

Unlike the Haredim, the leaders of the Knesset opposition welcomed the operation, with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tweeting that “the Military Police are not ‘arresting Haredim,’ they are arresting young Israelis who received a draft order during the war and did not show up at the military induction base to enlist in the defense of the country.”

“The law is the law, recruitment is recruitment, and equality is equality. Don’t stop, recruit everyone,” tweeted The Democrats chairman Yair Golan.

Military officials have acknowledged that in practice, the IDF had not been enforcing the draft orders it was sending out to Haredim.

“We don’t enforce the draft orders for the ultra-Orthodox enough. There is almost no enforcement of them,” an official told reporters earlier this week.

“We don’t want Military Police battalions to storm Bnei Brak, Modi’in Illit, and Beitar Illit,” the official said, referring to three major ultra-Orthodox cities. “We want to increase enforcement, but it’s difficult for us.”

Normally, after ignoring two draft orders, a potential conscript receives an immediate call-up order and must show up at an induction center within 48 hours or be declared a draft evader.

The consequences of being declared a draft evader include receiving a “no exit order” — being barred from leaving the country. In addition, during any encounter with the police, the draft dodger can be arrested. The exact timeline between the draft orders varies.

Currently, approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted.

The IDF in the coming weeks will complete sending out draft orders to 24,000 Haredi men, wrapping up an effort that began last summer but has seen only a handful enlist. As of late April, only 232 of those who have received orders have enlisted — 57 of them in combat roles.

In total, just over 1,800 Haredim have enlisted in the IDF since last summer, far fewer than the military’s goal of 4,800.

As of early February, arrest warrants had been issued for 1,212 Haredim who ignored multiple enlistment orders, a number that has likely increased in the interim.

During a discussion in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last week, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, told lawmakers the IDF has three main enforcement mechanisms: stopping people at Ben Gurion Airport, random police checks, and dedicated operations against evaders.

Such operations have been limited over the last year and a half as the bulk of the Military Police’s resources have been tied up in imprisoning captured terrorists, he said.

According to Tayeb, since the beginning of the year, 340 Israelis who received military draft orders and dodged service were detained while trying to leave the country — 52 of whom had recently received orders as part of an effort to recruit ultra-Orthodox men. Of those who were detained, 23 have since been drafted to the IDF, he said.

Speaking with the committee last month, Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein, head of the Haredi branch of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, seemed to indicate that the army sees large-scale arrest operations as ineffective.

“Currently, the most significant and effective sanction is Ben Gurion Airport; there is currently no other sanction,” Dickstein asserted. “There is the ability to make arrests, but it is extremely ineffective. If I grab him and put him in a police car, will he end up enlisting?”

Speaking with The Times of Israel last week, former IDF chief military defense counsel Col. (res.) Ran Cohen Rochverger alleged that from November 2023 until this April, the military had significantly increased penalties for desertion against regular service and reserve troops, without a corresponding change in legal consequences for draft evaders.

The Ynet news site recently reported that the IDF had been in contact with the Justice Ministry to discuss the use of available sanctions, including ones that could have a significant economic impact on evaders.

Under existing laws, it is possible to block draft dodgers from obtaining drivers licenses, receiving passports or renewing their state identification cards, Deputy Knesset Speaker Evgeny Sova told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.

“You can do that today, but the state doesn’t do it,” he said. “But you can’t carry on with your life, use state services in a normal and regular way without actually settling this matter.”

The government has also done little, if anything, to combat those actively encouraging yeshiva students to dodge the draft.

Since the High Court of Justice’s ruling in June 2024 ending the exemption of Haredim from military service, multiple initiatives affiliated with various Haredi factions have sprung up to guide young men through their new post-exemption reality, and encourage them to disregard IDF enlistment orders.

The Israel Police and the attorney general appear to have failed to crack down on such groups, despite demands for investigation by advocacy groups and lawmakers. Under the law, someone inciting others to evade service during wartime is liable for a prison term of 15 years.