IDF to draft Haredi man after kissing photo emerges
Social media post by ex-girlfriend sees army strike yeshiva student’s deferment; IDF said planning unit to track ultra-Orthodox
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
The Israel Defense Forces is planning to draft an ultra-Orthodox man after his ex-girlfriend uploaded a photo to Facebook showing the pair kissing.
In a post on social media, the girl, who was not identified, described having a sexual relationship with the Israeli Haredi man and said he broke her heart, according to Channel 10.
In response, the army summoned the yeshiva student to an induction center to enlist, the TV report said, maintaining that the student was merely keeping up a guise of religious observance — the grounds for his deferment request — and therefore should not be exempt from service.
Many in the Haredi community shun the mandatory national service, and the community has historically enjoyed blanket exemptions from the army in favor of religious seminary studies. The ultra-Orthodox traditionally abstain from all sexual or intimate contact with the opposite sex until marriage.
The IDF was further considering opening a special cyber unit to track ultra-Orthodox students on social media, monitoring those who were openly eschewing ultra-Orthodox practice and drafting them, Channel 10 reported on Sunday night.
The unit would be tasked with verifying that the Haredi yeshiva students were living in accordance with Jewish religious observance, the report said, citing military sources.
In November, Israeli lawmakers passed legislation extending the ultra-Orthodox exemption from duty until 2023, reversing a law passed in 2014 that would have seen it expire.
AFP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.