The Israel Police will no longer arrest Haredi draft evaders who come to police stations to file complaints, the force’s senior rabbi told the ultra-Orthodox radio station Radio Kol Barama on Sunday, after one man was detained under these circumstances.

“The police are not against the Haredi public. The police commissioner ordered that anyone who comes to a police station to file a complaint will not be arrested for desertion… Woe unto us if there is a disconnect between the police and the Haredi public,” chief police rabbi Commander Rami Brachyahu told.

The police did not immediately reply to a request to confirm that Brachyahu’s comments represented official policy.

Several draft evaders were arrested on Friday, including one man who had been detained after he went to file a police complaint on an unrelated issue. In a statement that day, the office of Deputy Minister Yisrael Eichler (United Torah Judaism) said that the man was released after Eichler and his staff had reached out to “senior police and government officials” about the matter.

Asked about Brachyahu’s comments, a spokesman for Eichler told The Times of Israel that Haredi politicians had “made clear to the police what common sense dictates: you cannot arrest a person who came to file a complaint, otherwise tens of thousands of people will potentially become victims of crime.”

Refraining from arresting draft evaders during encounters at police stations appears to be a step back from a new, tougher policy announced by law enforcement earlier this month.

Following harsh criticism from both the military and the High Court of Justice, the Israel Police announced on May 18 that........

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