‘Deterred’ by protests, IDF and police have halted proactive arrests of Haredi draft dodgers — report

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police have stopped proactively arresting ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, the Kan public broadcaster reports, citing senior judicial officials.

Authorities have been “deterred” by mass demonstrations by Haredim that caused significant disruptions across the country in recent months.

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

Efforts by the current 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.

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