IDF posts, deletes AI video telling Haredi draft dodgers how to evade ban on traveling abroad

Shortly before an annual pilgrimage of religious Jewish men to the Ukrainian city of Uman for Rosh Hashanah, the Israeli military published a video Wednesday explaining to Haredi draft dodgers how to evade being denied permission to leave the country.

The artificially generated video was posted to the official Instagram account of the Personnel Directorate’s Haredi branch, before being removed following media reports.

In the video, a visibly Orthodox AI soldier, named “Dudi the explainer,” said that Haredi men who have not completed their recruitment process — before being officially declared a draft evader — would be stopped at Ben Gurion Airport and not allowed to leave the country.

“This story also has another ending: a brief appearance at the recruitment office with the medical documents — and this order is behind you. Don’t get stuck at the gate,” the AI soldier said.

The Instagram post’s caption told Haredi draft dodgers that they could “continue as usual” after showing up to the recruitment office.

In response, the military said that they then removed the video as it “does not reflect the IDF’s activity regarding the process of regularizing [recruitment] status.”

שימו לב לסיפור הבא:

זמן קצר לפני הנסיעות ההמוניות לאומן בראש השנה: צה״ל מסביר בסרטון לאוכלוסיה החרדית כיצד ניתן להתחמק מצו עיכוב יציאה מהארץ למשתמטים בנתב״ג

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הנה סרטון שעלה לפני זמן קצר לעמוד האינסטגרם הרשמי של צה״ל לציבור החרדי – haredim.idf, והוא מסביר כיצד ניתן להימנע ממעצר… pic.twitter.com/3ff1Zy0XCo

— דורון קדוש | Doron Kadosh (@Doron_Kadosh) August 26, 2026

“At the same time, the original purpose of the video was to explain to relevant prospective recruits the process of regularizing their status, whose purpose is recruitment and service in the IDF, and at the end of which restrictions applying to the prospective recruit are also removed,” the military said.

The military added that the video had also been uploaded in violation of IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin’s directive on “the uploading of content during the election period,” referring to an order he gave last month which instructed all units — aside from the Spokespersons Unit — to halt social media posts until after the October elections.

“The case will be investigated,” the army added.

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 11-13.

Last September, dozens of ultra-Orthodox men were arrested at Ben Gurion Airport trying to fly to Uman, according to numbers released by the extremist Jerusalem Faction, an ultra-Orthodox group stridently opposed to the military enlistment of yeshiva students.

This year, according to Army Radio, Breslov rabbis and activists held an emergency meeting in which they decided that those wishing to leave the country should report to recruitment centers and state their intent to enlist in order to get the ban lifted, then refuse to continue the conscription process anyway.

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

The outgoing coalition’s efforts to enshrine ultra-Orthodox exemption from the draft in law have drawn fierce opposition from reservists, Knesset legal advisers and much of the public.

Sam Sokol contributed to this report.