Netanyahu Claims Yeshiva Arrests, Security Source Says It Never Happened

At a Saturday night press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed several sensitive issues, including ultra-Orthodox protests over the arrest of draft dodgers. He claimed that people who study Torah are being arrested inside yeshivas, but a security source told N12 in response, “It never happened.” The source added, “The IDF has never sent its people to arrest draft dodgers inside the yeshivas. It never happened.”

Netanyahu said he had received a message from “Haredi religious-zionist yeshivas” saying that when authorities send people into yeshivas, remove Torah students and take them to prison, “nobody enlists.” He argued that the arrests are producing the opposite of the intended effect and are reducing enlistment among Haredim.

He also said that if such action were taking place in a European country, the public would be shocked. According to Netanyahu, the arrest policy should be stopped because it does not achieve the desired result. At the same time, he said that for people who do not study Torah, sanctions should indeed be imposed and “the full weight of the law” can be used against them.