Ultra-Orthodox MK: Israeli crackdown on Haredi draft-dodgers threatens our ‘existence’

The ultra-Orthodox draft crisis could escalate to the point where Haredim face a “struggle for existence” in Israel, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) says, in a recording aired by Radio Kol Hai.

“We have never been in such a difficult situation here in Israel,” Porush states, arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are being prevented by the High Court of Justice from “accepting the right law” on yeshiva students’ exemptions from military service.

“I did not come to speak badly about the land of Israel or about those who are at the head of the state. I’m telling you this because we don’t know where it will develop, but I think it could also develop into a real struggle for our existence here in Israel. Something like that could happen. If we reach a point where, God forbid, they want to arrest young men who are sitting and studying, removing them from their homes, removing them from the yeshivas,” he continues.

And while international travel restrictions on draft dodgers can be tolerated, arrests will lead to “a struggle for existence,” he emphasizes. “I don’t want to use a harsher term than struggle.”

Kol Hai broadcast Porush’s comments only a day after United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf was quoted in the Hamodia daily as saying that “either they put off the conscription bill and we go to summer elections, or they insist on the conscription bill before the budget and the government completes its term.”

Earlier this month, The Times of Israel reported that a hotline established by Porush was advising Haredim who had received enlistment orders not to report to the IDF.

חשיפה במהדורת סופ"ש ב-@newskolhai

הקלטה של השר מאיר פרוש באמירה חריפה על חוק הגיוס: "אנחנו הולכים למאבק על הקיום שלנו פה בארץ. ייעצרו בחורים מהבתים, מהישיבות" pic.twitter.com/R9dxu7d7vk

— מרדכי הלפרין (@MHlpryn) February 27, 2025