Rabbi Yoel Ben-Nun Calls to End Draft-Dodger Arrests in Exchange for Haredi Approval of Enlistment

Rabbi Yoel Ben-Nun is urging Israel to stop arresting draft evaders altogether, saying that, in return, leading Torah authorities in the ultra-Orthodox community should permit and bless any young Haredi man who wants to enlist in the IDF. He argues that this would defuse the crisis without the need for any new enlistment law.

In his view, the ongoing confrontation between the Haredi public and the Israeli legal system has left elected officials powerless and serves no useful purpose. He says a compromise is needed immediately, and that the only workable formula is a complete halt to arrests of draft dodgers paired with clear rabbinic approval for those who choose military service.

Ben-Nun says the arrangement would need full backing from the Knesset and the Supreme Court. If that happened, he argues, there would be no need for a separate “draft law,” which he says would also prove meaningless.

He adds that the IDF does not need soldiers without motivation and that the arrests cause serious harm while providing “zero” benefit to Israel’s security. He says many Haredi צעירים, both yeshiva students and non-students, want to enlist but are waiting for approval from their rabbis so they can avoid family and community rifts. He also says equality in military service can never truly exist, because combat soldiers face life-threatening risks while home-front servicemen do not, and therefore the High Court of Justice should stop pursuing what he calls a fictitious campaign for equal military service.