More than 40 ultra-Orthodox Chabad students were detained at Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday morning after returning to Israel from a year of religious studies in the United States, when authorities identified them as suspected military draft dodgers. Some had their passports confiscated and were informed that they were suspected of failing to report for mandatory military service.
The students had spent the past year studying at the Chabad-Lubavitch movement's international headquarters, known as 770, in Brooklyn, New York. Upon landing in Israel, they were stopped by authorities over their military service status. Initially, they believed they would be released because military police lacked the capacity to arrest such a large number of suspected draft evaders simultaneously. However, they were eventually told they would be detained for disciplinary proceedings.
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Over 40 Chabad students detained at Ben Gurion Airport as suspected draft dodgers
(Photo: Der Tzeit Channel)
The incident came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly criticized the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders. In an interview Tuesday with the Haredi Kol Barama radio station, Netanyahu described the arrests as "unacceptable," arguing that they were undermining efforts to reach an agreement on military conscription within the ultra-Orthodox community.
"We must preserve the world of Torah study because it has preserved us," Netanyahu said. "These arrests are a deliberate attempt to undermine the process of recruiting Haredim without coercion." He nevertheless stressed that not every ultra-Orthodox man should be exempt from military service. "I have great respect for the world of Torah study, but anyone who isn't studying should enlist," he said.
Netanyahu also did not rule out a demand by ultra-Orthodox parties to pass legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service before the next government is sworn in. "I wish we could do that," he said. "Can we do it before the government is formed? Who knows? It depends on goodwill, understanding and cooperation. I know that many in the Haredi community understand that there needs to be a new sharing of the burden."
Addressing the sharp criticism directed at him by senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis over the failure to pass a conscription law, Netanyahu acknowledged their frustration. "I understand there has been a lot of frustration and pain," he said. "We were on the verge of passing a real conscription law, and we were missing just one vote." He argued that such legislation could be passed during the next parliamentary term and establish a lasting arrangement between ultra-Orthodox and secular Israelis, preserving Torah study while introducing a new distribution of military service obligations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: Debbie Hill/Pool Photo via AP)
Asked whether he believed Torah study protected the Jewish people and the State of Israel, Netanyahu replied: "What do you mean? It preserved the Jewish people. What preserved us in exile and throughout all those generations? Torah study. We cannot throw away our heritage."
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, chairman of the Beyahad party, sharply criticized Netanyahu's remarks, accusing him of preparing to grant sweeping military service exemptions to ultra-Orthodox men in exchange for political support.
"The Bibi-Deri deal has been exposed, and now it's official: draft evasion in exchange for power," Bennett said, referring to Netanyahu and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri. He claimed Netanyahu had promised to pass a draft exemption law before the formation of the next government, although the prime minister had stopped short of making an explicit commitment.
"Netanyahu is dismantling the IDF and the future of those who serve and the reservists," Bennett said. He accused the prime minister of seeking to give official approval to mass draft evasion by what he described as 120,000 healthy young ultra-Orthodox men.
The confrontation comes one week before Israel's October 27 election, with the future of military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men remaining a major point of contention between Netanyahu, his potential coalition partners and opposition leaders.