Haredi bill aims to reduce draft dodgers’ sentences if religious needs ‘violated’

UTJ’s Porush claims ongoing ‘violation of basic religious rights’ of Haredi evaders in military prison, even though IDF already provides for the religious needs of soldiers

Responding to the Israel Defense Forces’ increased enforcement efforts against draft evaders, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party was set to submit a bill this week requiring the IDF to accommodate detainees’ religious lifestyle while allowing military courts to reduce prisoners’ sentences should prison authorities fail to provide such accommodations.

The bill comes even though the IDF already provides for the religious needs of soldiers and appears to be an attempt to shorten the incarceration of yeshiva students detained for refusing mandatory military conscription.

Someone arrested and detained by the military “is entitled to appropriate conditions for maintaining their religious lifestyle, and shall not be prevented from observing the commandments of their religion or belief,” a copy of the bill provided to The Times of Israel stated, tasking the defense minister and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee with enacting regulations for the proposed legislation’s implementation.

The bill would require military prison authorities to provide kosher food, dedicated time for public or individual prayer as well as access to a place for services, and access to holy items such as prayer books and tefillin (phylacteries). It would also prevent the military from requiring detainees to violate Shabbat or holidays and give them the right to speak with a religious leader within 24 hours of lodging a request.

It also called for the establishment of a “dedicated wing for prisoners and detainees who declare that they maintain a religious or faith-based lifestyle, where an appropriate religious or faith-based lifestyle will be enabled.”

Should any of these conditions be violated, a military court would be permitted to “order any remedy it deems fit to ensure the fulfillment of the right, including reducing the period of detention or imprisonment,” the bill added.

In his bill’s explanatory notes, sponsor Meir Porush complained that “there is a legislative vacuum that leaves the regulation of freedom of religion in military confinement facilities to command discretion and internal orders, which leads to a severe and disproportionate violation of the prisoners’ freedom of religion” — asserting that testimony from draft evaders proves that there has been an ongoing “violation of basic religious rights of Haredi detainees in military confinement facilities.”

Porush’s proposal comes three months after the army confirmed that it had prevented draft dodger Avraham Ben Dayan from putting on tefillin while held in military prison.

In a statement in February, the the IDF said that Ben Dayan had indeed been prevented from wearing tefillin — small leather boxes containing Torah verses, which Orthodox Jewish men don every weekday morning during prayers — due to a delay in his transfer to a detention unit. The spokesperson added that it was contrary to regulations and that “procedures in the prison have been sharpened” to prevent a recurrence.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. Over the past two years, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the community whose exemptions from mandatory service were revoked under a 2024 High Court ruling. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as evaders and being subject to arrest or other sanctions.

According to the IDF, there are currently around 32,000 people classified as draft evaders — while another 50,000 others have received a formal warning ahead of their formal declaration by the government as draft evaders — and the number of evaders could soon climb as high as 80,000 to 90,000.

Lawmakers representing Shas and United Torah Judaism have made numerous visits to draft dodgers held in military prison, who have been largely lionized as heroes on the Haredi street.

Ultra-Orthodox MKs have also demanded that Haredim arrested for draft evasion be granted special privileges not provided to others held in military prison.

Writing to Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir in January, UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf called for their “immediate intervention,” insisting that limiting the number of visits permitted to the rabbis of the draft evaders “is a serious violation of their rights.”

The Hasidic politician insisted that “in the Jewish state there is no reason” why the prisoners should not be provided with special rations on Shabbat, stating that they should be served fare “that is adapted to their lifestyle and Shabbat tradition.”

Speaking with The Times of Israel, MK Moshe Tur-Paz (Yesh Atid), a liberal Orthodox opposition lawmaker on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, argued that while it is absolutely necessary to ensure proper conditions for detainees, any failure to live up to proper standards should not be used as grounds to release evaders.

“I think that ensuring the religious conditions of detainees and draft evaders is a necessary thing, and I think the police and the army should do it without legislation,” he said. “If it indeed turns out there is need for legislation on the matter, I think it can be legislated, and there is even a certain logic to it, but — and this is a line that absolutely must not be crossed— you cannot come and say that if they don’t comply with it, then detainees must be released.”