Officials agree to election-day moratorium on draft dodger arrests

Citing ‘importance of right to vote,’ Central Elections Committee, AG, police remove threat of detention from thousands of ultra-Orthodox evaders

The Central Elections Committee said Tuesday there will be no arrests of military draft dodgers on election day this fall.

Committee chair Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and Israel Police Chief Daniel Levy agreed on the policy with the aim of enabling all voters to exercise their democratic right. A final date for the elections has not yet been set, but the vote must be held by October 27.

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox men have refused to obey draft orders, making them eligible for arrest.

“Given the importance of the right to vote,” the committee said in a statement, “every voter can reach the voting station without fear.”

Channel 13 reported that ultra-Orthodox parties requested the suspension of arrests in the interest of their community, also known as Haredim.

There is a fierce national debate over the blanket exemptions from military service long afforded to Haredi men. A High Court ruling declared in 2024 that Haredi men must enlist, and the debate over enlistment has gained urgency amid the multifront war Israel has fought since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.

Over the past two years, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community following the High Court ruling. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as deserters and being subject to arrest or other sanctions.

Haredi legislators began the process of dissolving the Knesset in May over the coalition’s failure to pass a controversial law restoring the yeshiva students’ draft exemptions. Though the Knesset has not yet been dissolved, elections must be held anyway by the end of October.

While arrests of draft evaders have increased, authorities have announced several exceptions to this policy. Last month, chief police rabbi Commander Rami Brachyahu said that the Israel Police will no longer arrest Haredi draft evaders who come to police stations to file unrelated complaints.

Meanwhile, Haredi activists have increased protests against the draft and arrests of evaders, with rallies often marred by violence.

Last week, dozens of extremist ultra-Orthodox demonstrators rallied outside the home of Supreme Court President Isaac Amit in Mevasseret Zion to protest the arrest of a Haredi military draft dodger.

At the beginning of June, ultra-Orthodox rioters attacked Sohlberg’s home, smashing windows and causing property damage, while trying to break into the residence in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut.

The ultra-Orthodox Agudat Yisrael party is set to send out large convoys of hundreds of cars from Haredi communities across the country on Wednesday, culminating in a massive anti-conscription demonstration outside the Neve Tzedek (Beit Lid) military prison in Kfar Yona, where a number of draft evaders are incarcerated.