From the Liveblog of
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Lapid: AG must take ‘decisive action’ on hotlines advising Haredi callers to ignore draft orders
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to take “swift and decisive action” against ultra-Orthodox telephone hotlines encouraging draft evasion, stating that those behind such operations “should be treated as criminal offenders.”
Asked by The Times of Israel about the growing ecosystem of groups (including one linked to Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush) running hotlines counseling Haredi callers on how to respond to enlistment orders, Lapid responds that unless the Attorney General’s Office takes action soon, his Yesh Atid party will turn to the police.
Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak submitted a query on the matter to the Attorney General’s Office in mid-February “and we expect swift and decisive action from the attorney general and the legal system,” Lapid states. “Otherwise, Yesh Atid will file a complaint with the police. On the face of it, these are criminal offenses, and the people who commit them should be treated as criminal offenders.”
Since the High Court of Justice’s ruling in June 2024 that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, multiple initiatives affiliated with various Haredi factions have sprung up to guide young men through their new post-exemption reality — and encourage them to disregard IDF enlistment orders.
Porush’s hotline has told callers to “just ignore” summonses to the IDF’s recruitment bureau while another advice line run by the the “Vaad HaYeshivot” (Yeshiva Committee) has insisted that yeshiva students “not report [to the army] under any circumstances.”
The Israel Police and the attorney general appear to have failed to crack down on such groups, despite demands for investigation by advocacy groups and lawmakers. Under the law, someone inciting others to evade service during wartime is liable for a prison term of 15 years.
Lapid’s call for action comes less than a week after the hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu party demanded that the Attorney General’s Office prosecute Israelis engaged in “inciting” against draft evasion, after extremist demonstrators attempted to physically prevent ultra-Orthodox recruits from entering the IDF’s induction center at the Tel Hashomer military base.
The Times of Israel Community.