From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 9, 2026
Echoing Shas counterpart, Degel HaTorah spiritual leader says those who arrest draft dodgers will face divine justice
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah party appears to warn those involved in the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders that they will face divine justice.
Addressing a gathering in Bnei Brak, Rabbi Dov Lando declares that the arrest of yeshiva students “shakes the heart of every Jew” and that “anyone who is complicit in [this] terrible crime…should know: there is a creator of the world; there is justice, and there is a judge!”
“We all share in the pain of those who have been imprisoned because of their desire to study Torah, and in the pain of their families. We pray with all our hearts that this evil will pass and dissipate like smoke,” he adds.
Lando’s statement comes on the heels of a radio interview in which Rabbi Moshe Maya, one of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party’s senior spiritual leaders, called on members of the military police to refuse orders rather than arrest yeshiva students who evade the draft, adding that anybody who carries out arrests loses his portion in heaven and deserves to be excommunicated.
The Times of Israel Community.