Haredi leaders celebrate law banning arrests of draft dodgers as opposition brands vote historic disgrace

Haredi leaders celebrate the recently passed law banning the arrests and prosecution of Haredi draft dodgers, effectively freezing most Haredi enlistment, while opposition leaders denounce it as one of the darkest moments in the Knesset’s history.

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri hails the legislation as the end of the “persecution” of yeshiva students, declaring that “today the Knesset is telling the ousted attorney general in a clear voice: Enough with the persecution. Enough with the hatred toward Torah students.”

The government attempted to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, but the move was frozen by the High Court.

United Torah Judaism chairman and Degel HaTorah faction leader Moshe Gafni declares: “We promised, and we delivered. After a prolonged struggle, the Knesset today approved the law ending the persecution of Torah students and preventing their arrest.”

Their characterizations of the law stand in stark contrast to those of some coalition lawmakers who have insisted that the measure is merely a temporary freeze on arrests rather than blanket military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.

Opposition leaders, meanwhile, excoriate the coalition for abandoning the IDF in the midst of a multi-front war despite repeated military warnings of a severe manpower shortage.

Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot accuses the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly of choosing “to weaken the IDF in the midst of a difficult war” by granting “sweeping approval and encouragement to draft evasion.”

The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan calls the vote “one of the greatest moments of disgrace in the Knesset since the founding of the State of Israel,” accusing the coalition of extending protection to draft dodgers while soldiers and bereaved families bear the cost of the war.

Former prime minister and Together leader Naftali Bennett likewise brands the legislation “a shameful and anti-Zionist moment,” saying the outgoing government is showing “utter contempt for the soldiers, their families and everyone who serves,” while Reservists Party chairman Yoaz Hendel says Religious Zionist and Likud voters were “sold out” by Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who he says “surrendered to political extortion” to preserve their alliance with the ultra-Orthodox parties.

The measure forms part of an agreement between Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties, without whom the prime minister cannot form a government, under which the Haredi factions agreed to back a series of coalition priorities in exchange for this and other legislation shielding draft dodgers before the Knesset dissolves on Friday ahead of the October 27 election.