ISRAEL HAREDI DRAFT CONTROVERSY

"הרדוד פותח שמפניות": ח"כ חרדי לעג לקצין, שאמר כי 90 אלף יהיו משתמטים

Jun 30, 2026, 02:23 PM

An ultra-Orthodox lawmaker mocked an IDF officer who told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that 90,000 would be draft dodgers. Brigadier General Shai Teib argued that 'enforcement only against one group is impossible' and opposed freezing arrests, saying enforcement tools are part of the army's ability to fill its ranks.

בלחץ גפני ובניגוד לעמדת האוצר: הממשלה דוחה סנקציה לשכר הגננות החרדיות

Jun 29, 2026, 01:05 PM

Under pressure from ultra-Orthodox lawmaker Moshe Gafni and against the Finance Ministry's position, the Israeli government is set to reverse a decision that would have retroactively docked budgets for Haredi kindergartens that failed to report teachers' seniority. Finance officials oppose the move; Education Ministry sources say the aim is not to harm kindergartens that did report.

עופר וינטר: "מי שייחשב לומד תורה - צריך להיות שווה ערך כמו משרת שירות לאומי"

Jun 29, 2026, 08:42 AM

Former senior IDF figure Ofer Winter, seen as a popular candidate ahead of the coming elections, addressed the explosive conscription issue at a parlor meeting, saying anyone considered to be studying Torah should be treated as equivalent to someone performing national service. He blamed the army for failing to integrate the ultra-Orthodox by breaking agreed rules.

מכתב פתוח לדרעי / חנוך דאום

Jun 25, 2026, 09:00 PM

In an open letter to ultra-Orthodox political leader Aryeh Deri, columnist Hanoch Daum protests military conscription inequality, writing: 'Understand, dear Aryeh, we will no longer accept a situation in which you send our children into battle while your grandchildren are draft-dodgers.' The letter sharpens the dispute over the exemption of Haredi men from army service. It reflects deepening Israeli tensions over who bears the burden of military duty.

דרישת החרדים למכתב של שר הביטחון נגד מעצרי עריקים - והמהלך הסיבובי שנשקל

Jun 25, 2026, 06:13 PM

Ultra-Orthodox parties are demanding that Israel's defense minister publish a letter stating that arrests of draft-dodgers do not help recruitment, even as the IDF chief of staff says the army needs 'every soldier.' The conscription laws the military seeks are not being advanced, and the prime minister and Defense Minister Katz are expected to discuss the Haredi demand. One option under consideration is for the cabinet secretary to publish the letter as a workaround. The episode underscores the deepening fight over Haredi enlistment.

עימותים בי-ם ובבית שמש: מאות חרדים הפגינו למען עצורי סולברג והעריקים

Jun 9, 2026, 08:35 PM

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters again took to the streets in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh—burning bins, throwing stones and blocking the light rail—to protest the arrest of draft evaders and of rioters near a Supreme Court justice's home. Police dispersed them by force, saying the demonstrators 'cross every red line day after day'.

בתמיכת הקואליציה: אושר לקידום החוק למעקף בג"ץ וסבסוד מעונות למשתמטים

Jun 9, 2026, 01:13 PM

The Knesset is set to vote in first reading on a bill under which day-care subsidies would be set according to a toddler's mother rather than the father, so that a draft-evading father would not cost the family its subsidy. A clause inserted at Finance Minister Smotrich's initiative—paired with a move to bypass the High Court—angered the ultra-Orthodox parties.

"כשהמשיח יבוא - נצטרך לסקול חילונים": כינוס הרבנים נגד הגיוס לצה"ל

Jun 7, 2026, 01:45 PM

At a conference in Netivot against the 'Kodkod' technology track for ultra-Orthodox soldiers in the IDF, prominent Lithuanian-Haredi Rabbi Chaim Feinstein launched a fierce attack on Haredi enlistment, amid escalating rhetoric over the draft.

הסכומים שיישללו מהמשתמטים, ומתקפת מנהיג הציבור הליטאי על בג"ץ: "רשעים"

Apr 26, 2026, 05:00 PM

Following a Supreme Court ruling on mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men, details of financial penalties for draft evaders are emerging, while leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis and politicians reaffirmed that yeshiva students will not serve — igniting a new political crisis in Israel.

הממשלה לא מגייסת חרדים לפי החוק - בג"ץ מבטל שורת הטבות למשתמטים

Apr 26, 2026, 11:27 AM

In a landmark ruling, the Israeli Supreme Court found that the government has been systematically violating a court order on ultra-Orthodox military conscription, and cancelled a series of financial benefits for draft evaders — ruling that the mass non-compliance amounts to a knowing breach of law.