Last month, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced that the military police would launch an arrest operation at the end of July against talmidei yeshivos who are defined by law as “deserters.”

However, the operation was never launched, and according to a senior Chareidi political official, the operation has been frozen, Kikar H’Shabbat reported on Tuesday.

The official said that the operation was frozen due to the pressure exerted by the spiritual and political Chareidi leadership, which persuaded senior IDF officials not to shatter the relationship between Chareidim and the IDF.

The Chareidi official said, “The IDF planned to launch the arrest operation at the start of Bein Hazmanim, but our message got through. The IDF is not looking for a conflict with Chareidim, and the arrest operation has been postponed and may even be canceled. We worked with the IDF and the Defense Minister. It seems that Bein Hazmanim will pass without any unusual incidents.”

He added, “Even the arrests in Tel Aviv were random. Senior IDF officials were careful to clarify this in conversations with us and in briefings to the media.”

Three yeshivah bochurim were arrested in Tel Aviv last week in what the IDF said was an arrest operation against deserters from all sectors.

It should be noted that the IDF spokesman and the office of Defense Minister Katz denied the claims.

The IDF spokesperson said, “The military police force carries out enforcement operations against evaders and deserters in accordance with the law. There is no change in policy.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)