Haredi leaders planning large protest outside prison where draft dodger suspects held

Hundreds of yeshiva deans and prominent rabbis are expected to attend a major demonstration outside the Beit Lid military prison on Thursday to protest the arrest of several ultra-Orthodox men who evaded conscription.

The protest appears to mark an escalation in the Haredi community’s self-declared “war” against the military’s efforts to increase enforcement against draft dodgers, which has led to a series of smaller protests outside the prison in recent days.

The protest is announced in the Yated Neeman and Hamodia newspapers, mouthpieces for the Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael factions that make up the United Torah Judaism party, respectively,  and is being organized by Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah. UTJ is currently leading efforts to advance legislation exempting the Haredi community from mandatory military service.

Lando, who has repeatedly told yeshiva students to ignore draft orders, visited brothers Rafael and Baruch Yitzhakov at the prison last week, telling them the “entire Haredi community stands behind you” and urging them to “be strong and hold firm,” according to his spokesman. The IDF said the visit was made without proper authorization.

Afterward, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, head of the Slabodka Yeshiva, arrived at the prison alongside members of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages. They were initially denied entry but were later allowed inside “to avoid unnecessary confrontations,” according to the military.

For the past year, the Haredi leadership, including Lando, has rejected any attempt to find a compromise to draft at least some of the ultra-Orthodox youth to the military after the High Court ruled last year that the decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to the Haredi community were illegal.