Military police officers arrived in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the home of a yeshiva bochur, 23, in Bat Yam and arrested him for draft-dodging.

He was the fourth yeshivah bochur to be arrested at his home in central Israel in recent weeks.

The bochur is receiving legal advice from a lawyer from the Ezram U’Meginim organization.

Several Chareidi media outlets reported that the bochur received army deferments over the years and only recently stopped responding to draft notices, in accordance with the instructions of Gedolei HaDor. However, according to a Ynet report, the bochur is a Ba’al Teshuvah who only recently began learning in a yeshivah in Kiryat Melachi.

The report said that IDF sources said that the bochur began the recruitment process in the past, but after becoming religious, stopped responding to IDF notices and disappeared.

According to the IDF, the arrest was part of a routine enforcement operation and not one focused on Chareidi deserters, and there is no intention to carry out such enforcement.

It should be noted that the recent arrests of yeshivah bochurim were carried out only in mixed cities, with no arrests taking place in Chareidi cities.

A young avreich from Ashkeon was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday on his way to a vacation abroad but was later released to his home after a disciplinary hearing.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)