Even though Israel is still at war with with Hamas, hundreds of haredim from Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach’s non-hasidic haredi rebel faction demonstrated, sometimes violently, last night against the arrest and imprisonment of a haredi draft dodger from Ashdod – which ironically is a city that has experienced heavy Hamas rocket fire.
Above: Haredi yeshiva student arrested in Jerusalem last night
Haredim Riot Over Arrest Of Draft Dodger Yeshiva Student
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Even though Israel is still at war with with Hamas, hundreds of haredim from Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach’s non-hasidic haredi rebel faction demonstrated, sometimes violently, last night against the arrest and imprisonment of a haredi draft dodger from Ashdod – which ironically is a city that has experienced heavy Hamas rocket fire.
According to Ha’aretz, at least 300 haredim blocked Jerusalem’s Bar-Ilan junction, but police made only one arrest.
Auerbach’s faction also reportedly staged demonstrations on the Geha Highway, at the Shilat junction near Modi’in Illit, in Beit Shemesh, and – with no sense of irony – in Ashdod itself. According to reports, at least three arrests were made.
The haredi draft dodger is Eliyahu Cohen, a 20-year-old yeshiva student.
Cohen was arrested previously for draft dodging but was released from IDF prison in response to intense pressure from haredi MKs upset that Cohen had been arrested near Passover.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Committee to Save the Torah World, which is linked to Auerbach, said that Cohen received his second draft notice last month and refused to answer it. He was arrested and imprisoned for 20 days – his second stint in an IDF prison.
After his release, Cohen was ordered to report to the IDF induction center to be enlisted. Cohen refused that order, as well, and last week was arrested for the third time and imprisoned in IDF Military Prison 6 awaiting trial in military court.
According to Auerbach’s Hapeles newspaper, Cohen went to the draft board to arrange an exemption but was told he was already inducted and was AWOL. (This apparently took place after Cohen was released from prison in April, not before.)
“And after he repeatedly refused the army’s demand to become a regular soldier, he was arrested for the ‘crime’ of refusing induction and his desire to study Torah,” HaPeles reported.
Cohen is reportedly on a hunger strike.
“We must storm the entire world to cancel this terrible decree,” Auerbach – who previously openly ordered his followers not to report to IDF induction centers or respond to draft notices in any way – reportedly said.
The IDF insists Cohen is nothing more than a common deserter.
“The IDF handles the haredi population in accordance with the parameters of the law. The security service candidate in question chose not to appear to arrange his status as required by law. Similarly, he did not produce certificates attesting to his being a yeshiva student. After evasion and desertion, for which he was jailed in the past, he was allowed to continue the induction process but when he refused he was jailed again,” the IDF Spokesman reportedly said.