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Sunday, September 21, 2025
Haredi lawmaker tells IDF to ‘repent,’ release draft dodgers from military prison for Rosh Hashanah
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"
United Torah Judaism calls for the release of over 100 Haredi draft dodgers from military prison ahead of the Rosh Hashanah holiday, declaring that it is not yet too late to “repent and to prevent an explosion between brothers.”
According to the extremist Jerusalem Faction group, around 100 Haredi draft dodgers are currently being held in military prison, with dozens of evaders having been arrested and sent to prison over the past several days.
In a statement, MK Meir Porush, whose United Torah Judaism party quit the coalition this summer to protest its failure to pass legislation exempting yeshiva students from mandatory IDF service, calls on “the judicial and military authorities to come to their senses and release the yeshiva students who are under arrest, at the very least for Rosh Hashanah.”
“The situation in which more than 100 Torah observant Jews are sitting in a military prison on Rosh Hashanah as a result of obeying the voice of their rabbis is disgraceful and shames the Jewish people,” he declares, declaring that it “is not too late” for Attorney General Gali-Baharav Miara “to repent and to prevent an explosion between brothers.”
Baharav-Miara has been a major advocate for increased enforcement and sanctions against draft evaders.
The Times of Israel Community.