Adv. Yoav Lalum, chairman of the Noar K’Halacha organization, sent an urgent letter to IDF Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, demanding that they immediately intervene and halt what he says is military enforcement targeting only members of the Sephardi community.

The letter was sent following the renewed arrests by the military police of bnei yeshivos defined as ‘deserters.” Almost every ben yeshivah arrested in proactive operations has been Sephardi.

Lalum wrote, “I respectfully demand immediate and urgent intervention, including a full investigation of all the facts, to prevent any suspicion of ethnic discrimination or selective enforcement by the IDF regarding the application of the law to Sephardi bnei yeshivos.”

Lalum noted that a simple review of the list of detainees attests that nearly all those arrested in the past year during proactive operations were from Sephardi backgrounds.

“This is an unacceptable result,” he emphasized. “It raises more than a suspicion that, chas v’chalilah, improper and illegitimate considerations are influencing the discretion of military enforcement authorities when they exercise their legal powers against draft evaders.”

He stressed that this appeal is a preliminary step before filing a petition to the Supreme Court, “with the hope that you will order a full investigation of the events and clarify how it is possible that only Sephardi bnei yeshivos were arrested in proactive operations.”

Lalum further claimed, “It goes without saying that these actions severely damage the trust of the Sephardi Chareidi public in the army and in any draft legislation—even one agreed upon by the Chareidi political establishment. Because of how the Chareidi leadership treats Sephardi children in the educational system, there is a real concern that those who will be forced to fill the quotas that may be agreed upon will be Sephardi Bnei Torah whose Torah is their occupation, while Ashkenazi troublemakers will receive deferrals.”

It should be noted that although it is true that Sephardi Bnei Torah have been targeted in proactive arrests, Lalum’s claim about the “Chareidi leadership” is not based on any facts, and there is no indication that Chareidi leaders would do such a thing or even have any influence over who is arrested. And in fact, Ashkenazi Gedolei Torah have repeatedly emphasized that they will fight for all Bnei Torah and have visited Sephardi Bnei Torah in prison. The mass atzeres tefillah was organized by Ashkenazi Gedolei Torah, and the huge demonstration organized by HaGaon HaRav Sholom Ber Sorotzkin, the Rosh Yeshivah of Ateres Shlomo, was for Ariel Shamai, a Sephardi bochur.

Concluding his letter, Lalum emphasized that the option of a petition to the Supreme Court remains on the table: “It must be stated clearly that the duty of the IDF, as the army of the people, has a duty to demonstrate that there is no ethnic discrimination in its conduct regarding Sephardi Chareidim.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)