From the Liveblog of
Sunday, May 24, 2026
Haredi bill aims to reduce draft dodgers’ sentences if religious needs ‘violated’
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"
Following the recent rise in arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers, United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush is set to submit a bill requiring the IDF to accommodate detainees’ religious lifestyle while allowing military courts to reduce prisoners’ sentences should prison authorities fail to provide such accommodations.
The IDF already provides for the religious needs of soldiers and the bill appears to be an attempt to shorten the incarceration of yeshiva students detained for refusing mandatory military conscription.
Someone arrested and detained by the military “is entitled to appropriate conditions for maintaining their religious lifestyle, and shall not be prevented from observing the commandments of their religion or belief,” a copy of the bill provided to The Times of Israel states, tasking the defense minister and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee with enacting regulations for its implementation.
The bill would require military prison authorities to provide kosher food, dedicated time for public or individual prayer as well as access to a place for services, and access to holy items such as prayer books and tefillin (phylacteries). It would also prevent the military from requiring detainees to violate Shabbat or holidays and give them the right to speak with a religious leader within 24 hours of lodging a request.
It also calls for the establishment of a “dedicated wing for prisoners and detainees who declare that they maintain a religious or faith-based lifestyle, where an appropriate religious or faith-based lifestyle will be enabled.”
Should any of these conditions be violated, a military court would be permitted to “order any remedy it deems fit to ensure the fulfillment of the right, including reducing the period of detention or imprisonment,” the bill states.
The Times of Israel Community.