Homecoming procession held in Bnei Brak for 160 draft dodgers released from prison

Hundreds of Haredim held a homecoming procession through the streets of Bnei Brak on Sunday evening in honor of 160 ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers who were released from military prison.

The event was organized by a newly registered political party, Color Black, which has made securing exemptions from military service a central plank of its platform.

The ultra-Orthodox community, collectively known as Haredim, largely rejects army service and has sought to enshrine in law the exemptions historically granted to its members, in the face of opposition from other Israelis who do mandatory national service.

Though the event was not billed as political, as proceedings began organizers declared a launch event for Color Black, Channel 12 reported.

The returning draft dodgers were reportedly held in military prison over the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays. Most were arrested as they tried to leave the country for a traditional Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to Uman in Ukraine, or on their return to the country, reports said, a fact seen as highlighting a dearth in the arrests of draft dodgers on the streets.

News crews covering the event said they were attacked by participants and forced to leave the area. There were no reports of injuries.

תהלוכת קבלת פנים לעריקים חרדים שהשתחררו מהכלא הצבאי כעת ברחובות בני ברק pic.twitter.com/13yPXuHNCs

— דניאל גרובייס Daniel Grovais (@daniel_grovais) September 27, 2026

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, which is running neck and neck in polls with the ruling Likud ahead of October’s elections, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of encouraging draft dodging.

The Bnei Brak event, he wrote in an X post, was a “procession of shame for Netanyahu.”

“A government that promoted draft evasion, abandoned security, and for months has not bothered to arrest draft dodgers, cannot continue to hold the leadership wheel in Israel,” he said.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who leads the B’Yachad party, wrote, “It is exactly because of this that there are elections.”

Last week, Hebrew media said that the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police have stopped proactively arresting ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, reportedly due to the significant disruptions caused by anti-draft protesters.

Currently, approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted. The Attorney General’s Office has called for the state to strengthen its enforcement of draft orders, including arresting draft evaders.

In April, the High Court of Justice ordered the government to explain its failure to issue enough conscription orders to Haredi yeshiva students to meet the needs of the IDF, and its failure to enforce the orders it had issued.

The Israel Police subsequently announced in May that new orders had been issued to officers to detain draft dodgers and wait for the Military Police to pick them up.

The coalition sought in July to halt arrests of Haredi draft evaders for seven months, but the High Court froze that legislation before it could take effect and later extended the freeze while considering petitions against the law.

Efforts by the government to enshrine in law a blanket ultra-Orthodox exemption from the draft have drawn fierce opposition from reservists, Knesset legal advisers and much of the public.

Ultra-Orthodox leaders fiercely oppose compulsory enlistment, arguing that military service threatens their religious way of life.

Yet the matter remains contentious amid the country’s wartime manpower shortage and anger among Israelis who serve in the military and reserves, with the topic featuring as one of the key issues ahead of the October 27 general election.