From the Liveblog of
Monday, September 15, 2025
Eight more draft dodgers reportedly arrested while attempting to fly to Ukraine
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Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Eight draft dodgers, mostly belonging to the Breslov Hasidic sect, were arrested this morning at Ben Gurion International Airport, according to the Jerusalem Faction, an extremist ultra-Orthodox group vociferously opposed to the enlistment of yeshiva students.
The group claims that 33 draft dodgers are currently being held in military prisons. An IDF spokesperson does not immediately confirm or deny the Jerusalem Faction’s numbers.
According to the group, the eight arrested Monday were on their way to the Ukrainian city of Uman for the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, joining 10 other thwarted pilgrims arrested last week.
Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last week, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, stated that the military would increase enforcement at the airport ahead of the upcoming Rosh Hashanah holiday.
The ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties have lobbied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military officials to allow draft-dodging yeshiva students to take part in the annual pilgrimage without fear of arrest. However, the Attorney General’s Office informed the government earlier this month that it has no right to create a mechanism to let ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers leave Israel.
Haredim celebrate the sheva brachos of a detained draft dodger outside a military prison last Wednesday. (Video courtesy the Jerusalem Faction.) pic.twitter.com/HPQmKjXb0a
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) September 15, 2025
According to the Jerusalem Faction one of those arrested is a young man who was arrested only days after his wedding when he went to file a police complaint in an unrelated matter. The man’s friends gathered outside the prison to mark the end of a traditional week-long post-wedding celebration, a Jerusalem Faction spokesperson tells The Times of Israel, sharing video of the party.
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