Netanyahu Pushes Emergency Bill to Halt Arrests of Haredi Draft Evaders

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is advancing an emergency legislative push to stop arrests of Haredi draft evaders altogether, according to a report Monday on i24NEWS by Ari Kalman. The effort was triggered by heavy, direct pressure from Haredi spiritual leaders, especially demands from the Beitar Belz rebbe's household and the home of Rabbi Hagaon Moshe Hillel Hirsch.

According to the report, Netanyahu held several urgent calls in recent days and instructed Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs to move immediately with the relevant authorities. The initiative is now in a complicated legal phase, because enlistment of yeshiva students and the issue of draft evasion are under the scrutiny of the attorney general's office and other state bodies.

The plan being discussed is a fast-track bill that would be passed as a temporary order. The coalition and the initiative's backers want to complete all stages before the Knesset is expected to dissolve next month, in order to prevent continued arrests of yeshiva students who do not report for service.

Netanyahu's intervention comes after a peak in tensions on Thursday, when hundreds of activists from the Jerusalem Faction staged coordinated mass protests over the arrest of draft evaders. They blocked major intercity roads and central routes, causing severe traffic chaos, police used crowd-control measures including stun grenades, and it took about four hours to reopen all the roads. The protests also shut down rail traffic in the center of the country and led to violent clashes, including a 93-year-old man seriously hurt near the Gahah Interchange and a 21-year-old man moderately injured near the Ganot Interchange.