From the Liveblog of
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Shas MK visits military prison to support draft evaders
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"
Shas MK Moshe Abutbul visits the IDF’s Beit Lid military prison to offer encouragement to yeshiva students arrested for draft evasion.
“We came to strengthen and support the Torah students. Each one with his own painful story, we heard from them about the difficulties and the desire to return to the study hall… I told them: The entire Shas movement stands behind you. The detainees expressed great joy and hope in light of the efforts led by Shas chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri to stop the arrests of Torah scholars,” Abutbul says.
Deri is reportedly pushing for a bill to halt the arrests of draft evaders.
Abutbul and other lawmakers have visited the prison on multiple occasions in recent months. On Wednesday afternoon, thousands of Haredim demonstrated there.
The Times of Israel Community.