Following harsh criticism from both the military and the High Court of Justice, the Israel Police announced on Monday that Commissioner Danny Levy had issued new orders to officers to detain draft dodgers and wait for the Military Police to pick them up.

“During a random encounter between a police officer and a deserter, the police officer will detain the deserter, report to the Military Police and wait with the detainee until the arrival of a representative of the Military Police, who is required to arrive within 30 minutes of the report,” the police said in a statement.

“If the representative of the Military Police does not arrive, the deserter will be released and the police officer will issue him a summons to report to the Military Police,” the statement added.

The new policy announcement prompted harsh condemnations from the Knesset’s Haredi parties, with Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni accusing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, an advocate for tougher enforcement, of sinking “Israeli society into the depths of the abyss.”

The new police “is a populist and dangerous step, constituting a severe blow to Torah scholars,” declared United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, claiming that “no forceful policy or enforcement procedures on the ground will discourage us and Torah scholars will continue to sustain the world through their study.”

“At a time when acts of violence and crime are surging and murderers walk free in the streets, instead of the police properly handling national security, they decide to divert resources to pursue precious Torah scholars like common criminals. It is an absolute shame and disgrace that this is happening in the Jewish state,” the Sephardic Shas party said in a statement.

Over the past two years, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community whose exemptions from mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces were revoked under a 2024 High Court ruling. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as evaders and being subject to arrest or other sanctions.

While the military has made no move to arrest all 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18-24 believed to be eligible for service, the detainment of even a small fraction has ignited anger and occasionally violence in the country’s........

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