Opposition Leader Yair Lapid called on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to take “swift and decisive action” against ultra-Orthodox telephone hotlines encouraging draft evasion during a press conference on Sunday, stating that those behind such operations “should be treated as criminal offenders.”

Asked by The Times of Israel about the growing number of groups (including one linked to Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush) running hotlines counseling Haredi callers on how to respond to enlistment orders, Lapid responded that unless the Attorney General’s Office takes action soon, his Yesh Atid party will turn to the police.

Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak submitted a query on the matter to the Attorney General’s Office in mid-February “and we expect swift and decisive action from the attorney general and the legal system,” Lapid stated. “Otherwise, Yesh Atid will file a complaint with the police. On the face of it, these are criminal offenses, and the people who commit them should be treated as criminal offenders.”

Since the High Court of Justice’s ruling in June 2024 that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, multiple initiatives affiliated with various Haredi factions have sprung up to guide young men through their new post-exemption reality — and encourage them to disregard IDF enlistment orders.

Porush’s hotline has told callers to “just ignore” summonses to the IDF’s recruitment bureau. At the same time, another advice line run by the “Vaad HaYeshivot” (Yeshiva Committee) has insisted that yeshiva students “not report [to the........

© The Times of Israel