From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
UTJ chair Goldknopf to join protest outside military prison against detention of draft dodgers
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"
United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf announces he will join a major protest outside the Neve Tzedek (Beit Lid) military prison in Kfar Yona this afternoon in order “to strengthen Torah students” being held there for draft evasion.
The demonstration is being organized by UTJ’s Agudat Yisrael faction, which Goldknopf also chairs.
Speaking with the ultra-Orthodox Radio Kol Barama, Goldknopf threatens to significantly escalate the anti-conscription protests.
“The day will come when we turn the country upside down, but that is for a later stage. The entire country like a bonfire. Do you think they will make slaves and handmaids out of us? The moment will come when everyone takes to the streets in protests across the entire country. We will take the prisons and turn them into yeshivas,” he says.
Goldknopf says that he will set out from Schneller Street in Jerusalem at 4 p.m. as part of a series of vehicular convoys from around the country which will converge on the prison, which has seen repeated demonstrations over the detention of draft dodgers.
Residents complained that a previous demonstration last week, led by members of Goldknopf’s Gur Hasidic sect, caused significant damage to their neighborhood.
The Times of Israel Community.