UTJ’s Goldknopf demands Netanyahu intervene to stop arrests of Haredi draft dodgers

United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly intervene to prevent the Military Police from engaging in enforcement against draft evaders following several arrests overnight, calling such activity “a dangerous escalation in the relentless persecution of Torah students, which unfortunately recalls dark periods in the history of the Jewish people.”

“Precisely during such a sensitive and tense period, the police force entrusted with public order is expected to act with responsibility and discretion, and to avoid populist measures that create unnecessary confrontations,” Goldknopf states, arguing that police should focus their attention on other matters and calling on Netanyahu “to intervene immediately and order an immediate halt to these arrests.”

Following harsh criticism from both the military and the High Court of Justice, the Israel Police announced last week that Commissioner Danny Levy had issued new orders to officers to detain draft dodgers and wait for the Military Police to pick them up.

According to the hardline Jerusalem Faction, three yeshiva students were arrested for draft evasion overnight before the group’s Tzeva Shachor anti-conscription hotline could send out a warning and “community activists did not manage to arrive at the scene in time to prevent the handover.”

Following the arrests, the ultra-Orthodox group reported that activists had arrived to protest outside the home of the security chief of the IDF’s Neve Tzedek Military Prison near Beit Lid, prompting the use of tasers and tear gas. There was no comment from police.

Last month, 25 Haredim were arrested after demonstrators affiliated with the Jerusalem Faction breached the home of the head of the IDF’s Military Police in order to protest the detention of yeshiva students who have evaded military conscription.