Haredi Draft Dodgers in Prison Are 'Hungry,' Lawmaker Says

Member of Knesset Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of the United Torah Judaism party, visited prisoners at Ketziot Prison on Wednesday and called for leniency for Haredi draft dodgers incarcerated for studying Torah. Goldknopf urged that they be released before the upcoming High Holidays, stating, "They need to spend the holidays at home, with their families, not like the worst criminals in prison." He added that the prisoners were "hungry and not feeling well."

This visit follows a Knesset discussion two months prior regarding a Basic Law on Torah study. During that session, Goldknopf argued against harsh treatment for Torah scholars, saying, "If you don't want Torah students to serve in the IDF, you can't come at them like Noah's Ark terrorists. Because you study Torah you will go to jail, this has never happened before."

Opposition MKs reacted strongly to Goldknopf's remarks. MK Naor Shiri of the Yesh Atid party questioned his statement, asking, "Are you serious? What's wrong with you?"

In a separate discussion concerning a bill for integrating yeshiva students into security services, MK Moshe Solomon of the Religious Zionism party addressed MK Boaz Bismut of the Likud party, the bill's initiator. Solomon described the bill as a "vascular occluder" that could lead to "necrosis." He stated he would support the bill only if it were narrowly focused on arrests, expressing his disapproval of the broader legislation.