In the first action of its kind, military police arrived overnight Monday, at 1 a.m., at the Haifa home of the parents of a newly married avreich in order to arrest him for draft-dodging.

The attempted arrest was unsuccessful for undisclosed reasons.

The incident marks the first time that the military police targeted the home of a ben yeshivah for draft dodging. Previous arrests of bnei yeshivos were carried out only after a ben yeshivah was arrested for other reasons, such as during a protest, or at Ben-Gurion Airport when trying to leave the country.

According to sources familiar with the details, the arrest was part of a general operation to arrest draft dodgers and not an operation directed against bnei yeshivos. Nonetheless, the attempted arrest of an avreich symbolizes an escalation on the part of military authorities, who until now have not tried to arrest bnei yeshivos in their homes.

A family member told Kikar HaShabbat, “The police arrived in the middle of the night with clear information that there was a deserter in the house and sought to arrest him. They, of course, did not succeed for reasons that do not need to be detailed, but they woke up his new wife during the search, who understandably was very stressed.”

“He is an avreich who got married a little over a month ago and learned at a mainstream Litvish yeshiva. There was no special reason to arrest him. He submitted deferrals as usual—until the decision of the Gedolei Yisrael to refrain from reporting to draft centers. Apart from excessive motivation on the part of the military police, there was no real reason for the attempted arrest.”

A senior activist on the recruitment issue told Kikar, “Indeed, the fateful moment of truth has arrived. This is not a young man who went to places he shouldn’t have…he simply was at his home, and the police came to arrest him—as they committed to, and it seems they are living up to it very well.”

“He is currently being assisted by the Ezram U’Magenim organization, whose Rabbanim will consult Gedolei Yisrael today on what to do in the event that the military police broke the rules.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)