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draft evasion

A video posted to social media by the IDF Personnel Directorate, then deleted, advises draft-dodgers on how to remedy their status and avoid being blocked from leaving the country, August 26, 2026. (Screenshot)
August 27, 2026, 12:23 pm
IDF posts, deletes AI video telling Haredi draft dodgers how to evade ban on traveling abroad
Personnel Directorate uploads AI-generated PSA explaining the initial step they can take toward enlistment in order to evade bar on leaving country; rabbis have reportedly advised followers to do just that, and not enlist
By Emanuel Fabian
Jewish yeshiva students study at the Kamenitz Yeshiva, in Jerusalem on August 19, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 20, 2026, 7:51 pm
Government data said to show Haredim far likelier than other Jews to get state subsidies
Finance Ministry officials reportedly tell AG ultra-Orthodox family has 72% chance to qualify for municipal property tax discount, as opposed to 17% chance for other Jewish households
By ToI Staff
Ultra-Orthodox men clash with police during a protest against military enlistment, Bnei Brak, August 8, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
August 19, 2026, 10:03 am
AG says government must up enforcement against draft evaders, 83% of whom are Haredim
Gali Baharav-Miara notes fewer than 10% of indictments this year targeted ultra-Orthodox evaders; Haredi faction leader: She has no authority
By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff
Haredi Jews block traffic during a protest against the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox draft dodger, on Route 4 near Bnei Brak, August 12, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
August 12, 2026, 8:19 pm
‘Make the earth shake’: Haredi protesters don yellow stars, block roads after draft evader’s arrest
Protesters sit in front of traffic on stretch of Route 4 outside of Bnei Brak; soldier escorted to safety by police after mob surrounds him, calls him ‘f–k up’
By Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center), Justice Minister Yariv Levin (left), and Defense Minister Israel Katz (right), with ultra-Orthodox MKs Yitzchak Goldknopf, Moshe Gafni and Meir Porush behind them, seen in the Knesset shortly before the vote on a law banning arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers and legitimizing ongoing mass ultra-Orthodox non-enlistment, July 14, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 2, 2026, 5:10 pm
Opposition pans Netanyahu ‘spin’ as he distances himself from Haredi draft evasion law
PM reportedly says he will not pursue further legislation seeking to exempt ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers from arrest; Bennett: He ‘thinks the serving public is dumb’
By Sam Sokol
A group of ultra-Orthodox males harass several off-duty soldiers walking in Jerusalem, July 30, 2026. (Screenshots/Yaakov Hershkovitz via X)
July 31, 2026, 6:05 am
Off-duty soldiers, Border Police attacked in Jerusalem by dozens of Haredi men
Assailants were attending rally celebrating the release of 63 people arrested during recent attack on home of deputy Supreme Court chief to protest the arrest of draft dodgers
By ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) together with fellow Likud ministers Yariv Levin (left) and Shlomo Karhi (right) attend a Knesset plenum session at which a law boosting government authority over media was passed, July 16, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 17, 2026, 9:50 am
Coalition’s ‘legislative blitz’ is designed to shore-up, unshackle right-wing power
Raft of contentious laws passed this week increases power of right-wing media, throws off attorney general’s legal restraints, and keeps the Haredim inside Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc
By Jeremy Sharon
Shas chair Aryeh Deri (left) attends a Knesset plenum session and a vote on a bill to split the duties and powers of the attorney general, on July 15, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir attends a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Operation Entebbe at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, July 12, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
July 16, 2026, 5:11 pm
Deri accuses IDF chief of election interference for opposing ban on arresting draft dodgers
Shas chair, a member of key security cabinet, claims Zamir harmed the army by speaking out against law benefiting Haredi evaders, says he no longer recognizes High Court’s authority after it froze legislation
By Ariela Karmel and ToI Staff
MK Yitzhak Goldknopf, center, alongside Likud's Justice Minister Yariv Levin, left, and Defense Minister Israel Katz, right, during a Knesset vote on a bill to freeze arrests of Haredi draft evaders in Jerusalem, July 14, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
July 16, 2026, 4:50 pm
Pyrrhic victory on law banning arrests of draft dodgers could cost Netanyahu coalition at ballot box
Likud and its allies went to mat for an unpopular law meant to shield ultra-Orthodox from military conscription, losing vital support in the name of legislation that is already on its way to being struck down
By Tal Schneider
Likud MK Dan Illouz attends a plenum session in Knesset, July 15, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 16, 2026, 8:15 am
Likud MK resigns, says a third of party MKs wanted to oust Netanyahu after Oct. 7
Dan Illouz says Likud has been ‘hijacked’ by Haredi interests: Efforts to enshrine draft exemption are a ‘disgrace that made it clear to me that my place is no longer in Likud’
By ToI Staff
Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer holds a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 1, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 15, 2026, 8:02 pm
Right-wing minister critical of Haredi draft exemption efforts says won’t seek reelection
Religious Zionism’s Ofir Sofer said leaving politics over coalition’s efforts to okay exemptions for Yeshiva students, day after Knesset passed law to halt arrests of draft evaders
By ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (foreground) walks past ultra-Orthodox MKs as the Knesset prepares to pass a law banning the arrests of draft dodgers that will effectively freeze ultra-Orthodox enlistment into the IDF for at least the next seven months, July 14, 2026. Netanyahu left the chamber before the vote itself. At center, with hands around his mouth, is UTJ MK Meir Porush. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
July 14, 2026, 8:28 pm
Knesset passes law banning arrests of Haredi draft dodgers, legitimizing ongoing mass non-enlistment
Petitions against law filed to High Court; deputy minister quits in protest; Netanyahu skips vote, is denounced as ‘traitor’ by opposition MK; all ultra-Orthodox MKs proudly acknowledge they have relatives who could benefit from the law
By Ariela Karmel, Jeremy Sharon and Charlie Summers
United Torah Judaism MKs Yitzhak Pindrus (left), Moshe Gafni, and Yitzhak Goldknopf seen in the Knesset at a session where a Basic Law enshrining Torah study as a foundational value of the state was approved, July 13, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
July 14, 2026, 12:31 am
Israel passes quasi-constitutional law declaring Torah study a foundational value
Defying outcry from legal officials, the IDF, reservists and opposition parties, coalition secures final approval of flagship Basic Law, which aims to help enable ongoing broad exemption of ultra-Orthodox young men from IDF service
By Ariela Karmel
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks at the graduation ceremony of an IDF officers’ course in southern Israel, June 25, 2026. (Flash90)
July 13, 2026, 10:29 pm
Full text: IDF chief’s letter to Netanyahu, Katz against bill legitimizing Haredi non-enlistment
Zamir asks PM, defense minister, and chair of Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to remove section from legislation that would require army to review who can skip service
By ToI Staff
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks to troops of the Kfir Brigade's Netzah Yehuda Battalion, a largely Orthodox unit, in the Gaza Strip, March 6, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
July 13, 2026, 8:57 pm
IDF chief denounces ‘inconceivable’ bill that will freeze most ultra-Orthodox enlistment
In letter to Netanyahu, Defense Minister Katz, and Knesset defense committee, Zamir calls legislation ‘unequivocally inconsistent’ with IDF’s manpower needs, laments move to have army officers oversee exemptions
By Emanuel Fabian and Jeremy Sharon
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