Traffic police arrested Haredi yeshiva student Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Dubdavni on Route 6 on Tuesday, accusing him of draft evasion. The arrest is part of an ongoing wave of detentions of yeshiva students and married scholars who have been classified as draft deserters, and it was one of several similar cases reported in recent days across Israel.
According to the report, Dubdavni and his family are being fully supported by aid organizations, which are providing legal representation and help to families caught in similar situations. The arrest came against the backdrop of broader unrest in the ultra-Orthodox community, as the Jerusalem Faction last week announced emergency protests at four strategic sites after police planned to hand 19 yeshiva students over to military authorities.
The article also noted that a military court recently sentenced Yeshivat Maalot HaTorah student Michael Petrov, the son of Rabbi Yosef Petrov, to 40 days in actual prison. He was punished after being considered a deserter for five years because he had refused to report to the enlistment office.
At the same time, organizers are preparing for a large vehicle protest called "Massah Ad Kan!" scheduled for Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. They estimate about 2,500 cars will take part, departing from 19 launch points nationwide toward a military prison. The organizing committee, made up of representatives of different communities and Hasidic groups, unveiled the protest logo and slogan, "Ad Kan! There is no way without the way of Torah!" Police are preparing for the rally and are weighing whether the convoys will be allowed into Kfar Yona and the area of Prison 10; at this stage, police are demanding that the vehicles stay on nearby roads and not enter the town or prison compound itself.
