Following arrests at Ben Gurion Airport and stricter enforcement of the draft law, top haredi leaders order: No exit from Israel without explicit approval.
The Yeshivas Committee has announced that yeshiva students who have received IDF draft orders are not to leave the country, following stricter enforcement of the Draft Law and recent arrests at Ben Gurion Airport.
This exceptional directive was backed by a letter signed by Lithuanian-haredi leader Rabbi Dov Lando and the dean of the Slabodka hasidic yeshiva. The letter stated: “Students who have received draft summons are absolutely forbidden to leave the country without explicit permission.”
According to the directive, only in rare and highly essential cases will students be allowed to travel abroad — and only with the approval of the yeshiva head and prior coordination with the Committee offices.
The decision comes amid what the letter describes as “an increasing trend of enforcement operations and arrests by military authorities.”
The Yeshivas Committee noted that the new enforcement policy by the authorities has caused “significant harm to students” and “considerable distress.”
At the same time, the IDF has stepped up enforcement of draft summons and is taking measures to conscript yeshiva students. This includes military police appearing at haredi recruits’ homes and attempting to identify and arrest draft evaders.
