Ben Gurion Airport: Dozens of deserters arrested

Tel Aviv - Ofoq News - Dozens of Haredi students were detained at Ben Gurion Airport, today, Tuesday, on suspicion of evading Israeli military service, after returning to Israel from the United States, where they spent a year studying at the Chabad World Center 770 in New York.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that the authorities confiscated the passports of some young men during inspection procedures at the airport, and informed them that they were suspected of evading compulsory conscription.

According to the newspaper, the young men initially thought that they would be allowed to continue on their way, thinking that the military police would not be able to arrest such a large number of suspects at once, but they were later informed that they would be detained for disciplinary reasons.

This morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the arrest of the Haredi youth, describing the step as unacceptable.

Netanyahu said that these arrests represent “a deliberate attempt to harm the process of recruiting Haredim without coercion,” adding: “I have great respect for the Torah scholar, but whoever does not study the Torah should go and join the army.”

On the other hand, opposition leader Yair Lapid attacked Netanyahu's statements, considering that they reveal the nature of political agreements with the Haredi parties.

Lapid said, in statements to Kol Brama radio, that Netanyahu revealed, this morning, “the abhorrent deal with Derri and Goldknoff: evading the Israeli army in exchange for forming a government.”

These developments come in light of escalating tension over Haredi recruitment, as recent weeks have witnessed violent demonstrations protesting the arrest of religious school students on charges of evading military service.

Last Sunday, demonstrators from the “Jerusalem Faction” blocked Highway No. 4 in the Yavneh area, in protest against the arrest of two young men on charges of evading conscription, after they were sentenced to military imprisonment for 20 days.