A group of chareidi demonstrators gathered Wednesday outside the IDF draft office in Yerushalayim, setting up a striking display patterned after the well-known hostage exhibits calling for the release of captives in Gaza.
In place of the familiar yellow chairs with photos of the hostages, the protesters arranged yellow chairs bearing pictures of chareidi bochurim who were arrested and imprisoned for alleged draft evasion. The symbolism drew a parallel between the plight of the hostages and the incarceration of yeshivah students for standing firm in their refusal to serve in the army.
The demonstration comes as gedolei Yisroel and community leaders have called for two separate protests to be held tomorrow outside the Beit Lid military prison in central Israel. These gatherings will decry the recent arrests and ongoing detention of several chareidi young men who resisted army conscription.
The planned rallies follow last week’s public announcement by chareidi leadership declaring “war” against an escalating campaign by the military to target and prosecute those in the olam haTorah who seek to continue their limud haTorah without compromise.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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11 Responses
I DON’T UNDERSTAND CHAREIDIM. IF YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING USEFUL DAVEN, LEARN TRY TO TALK TO THEM BUT STOP PROTESTING AND HARASSING POLICE IT DOESN’T HELP ONLY MAKES IT WORSE SHOWS THAT YOU PEOPLE REALLY DO HAVE FREE TIME SO WHY DON’T YOU GO TO THE ARMY? I AM SURE THE REAL SERIOUS LEARNERS ARE NOT DOING ANY PROTESTING
THINK ABOUT IT
just got to say these people are absolutely crazy
next they’ll say that the police are nazis
In place of the familiar yellow chairs with photos of the hostages, the protesters arranged yellow chairs bearing pictures of chareidi bochurim who were arrested and imprisoned for alleged draft evasion. The symbolism drew a parallel between the plight of the hostages and the incarceration of yeshivah students for standing firm in their refusal to serve in the army.
Chareidi hasbara at its best. Winner of the “How can we make people hate us more” contest.
The insinuation in the headlines and articles about these arrests and subsequent protests is that the rabbinical board of ywn would like that young bochurim join the decadence of Israeli culture that permeates the idf
Ywn going off the d
Just as we are uncomfortable with comparing Auschwitz and Holocaust to various recent troubles – we shouldn’t insult families of hostages by comparing their plight of treatments worse than Auschwitz to imprisonment of our bochrim however unjust, unfair and undemocratic it is.
Why are they protesting. To solve this issue all you need to do is learn more Torah. Hashem protect.
If learning cannot protect you from the drive I was learning can it protect you from military actions from your enemies
To the various commentators questioning the logic of protests: Well ask the “Black-live-matters”, environmentalists, pro-Hamas, Unions, leftist-anti-democratic-Judicial reform etc etc – all over the world people protest and do get results. No mainstream media reporter will come to Beis Hamedrash filming an Azeres Tefilloh, but in the public sphere, that makes the government uncomfortable, and eventually they have to give in.
Also, for the imprisoned Bochrim, to hear the shouts of the protesters gives them Chizuk, they are not forgotten.
Halevi all the hostages be released and all who violate the law in the state of Israel be in jail!
We must with first and foremost to release the Jewish hostages in Israeli prison the learning Torah. Agreed that is successful there will be time to work on getting the frei hostages in Gaza.
We must work first and foremost to release the Jewish hostages in Israeli prison for learning Torah. After that is successful there will be time to work on getting the frei hostages in Gaza.
ujm – that is a TERRIBLE comparison. The yeshiva bochurim may be imprisoned but their situation is NOTHING like that of the hostages who are being starved, abused and tortured!