Amid rising tensions over military draft exemptions, Haredi factions announce mass protests, fasting, and prayers — while Rabbi David Stav blasts draft evasion as a violation of Torah and a “disgrace of Hashem’s name.”
The battle over Israel’s Haredi draft exemptions is escalating into a showdown. On Monday evening, Haredi demonstrators — following directives from senior rabbis — are set to gather outside Prison 10 in protest of arrests of draft evaders.
The Jerusalem Faction, a hardline anti-draft movement, issued a fiery statement:
“The great battle against the draft decree is intensifying. The army continues abducting yeshiva students from their homes, and now, in their audacity, they are entering Haredi neighborhoods to carry out arrests.”
More protests are planned for Tuesday, with flyers from the “Joint Committee for Salvation from the Draft Decree” declaring:
“We will not compromise on any Jewish soul. No compromises! No quotas! No targets! Not 50% and not even 1%.”
Organizers circulated bus schedules to the rallies, portraying imprisoned draft resisters as “holy soldiers who sanctify the Name of Heaven.” Leading rabbis’ names were published in support, while Haredi newspapers called for a public fast and prayer this Thursday to nullify what they denounced as the “draft decree.”
The newspaper HaPeles warned of “wicked attempts to arrest yeshiva students” and promised a “major protest of anger.” Meanwhile, the “Magen u’Moshia” center announced plans to establish an alert system to warn communities of impending military arrests, publishing its campaign under the headline: “With strategies you shall wage war.”
Yet opposition to Haredi defiance is growing. Rabbi David Stav, founder of the Tzohar rabbinical organization, condemned draft evasion in sharp terms:
“We are at a further point in this war when tens of thousands of Israeli families are again separated from loved ones returning to battle, while a large segment of the population absolves itself of national responsibility. Not only does this violate the mitzvah not to stand idly by as Jewish blood is spilled, but to claim that such evasion is a Torah value is nothing less than a disgrace of Hashem’s name.”
With protests swelling, the dispute over who must bear the burden of Israel’s wars is no longer a policy debate but a national confrontation — one that pits visions of Torah, duty, and identity against each other at Israel’s most fragile hour.
