In recent weeks, Major (res.) Dovi Yudkin has been exposing the abuse of Chareidim in military prison, the lack of even the most basic accommodations for Chareidi soldiers, and the astonishing reality that the IDF has no need for Chareidi soldiers, as evident by the fact that hundreds of thousands of reservists have not been called up since October 7.
Speaking in an interview with Kol Chai, Yudkin, a combat officer who has served for hundreds of days since the war began after October 7, said, “The Chareidi conscription story is inciteful political nonsense.”
“I’ve received testimony about clear cases of harassment and abuse of Chareidi deserters,” Yudkin said. He recounted one particularly troubling incident involving a young father from Bnei Brak who voluntarily turned himself in to enlist—only to be thrown into prison under severe psychological pressure, without proper medical attention or legal representation.
But Yudkin’s criticism goes far beyond prison conditions. He attacked the very premise that the IDF needs Chareidi recruits, saying that the IDF leadership is waging an inciteful and divisive political campaign.
“The whole Chareidi draft story is nonsense—purely political and inciteful. The army is not short on manpower—it’s lying.” He cited data showing that thousands of Chareidim who arrived for second‑stage induction were immediately sent home with exemptions and that tens of thousands of reservists from disbanded units have not been called up even once since October 7.
It should be noted that this data has been confirmed by other sources.
Yudkin also highlighted the total lack of even minimal accommodations for integrating Chareidim into the IDF. While the military has detailed directives for integrating women, he noted, there is not a single order safeguarding the needs of Chareidi soldiers regarding kashrus or gender separation.
“It’s absurd that the commanders of a married Chareidi soldier in prison are female soldiers. There isn’t even a gender‑appropriate facility,” he said.
Yudkin slammed the fact that the system is dragging Israel back to the divisive discourse of October 6 instead of fostering unity. “We must stop IDF senior officials who have blood on their hands—they’re continuing to incite us from within.”
Yudkin also mentioned an interesting proposal: using the “conscientious objector” pathway, similar to the method employed by radical left‑wing groups. He mentioned New Profile, an organization that helps thousands of leftists secure IDF exemptions on ideological grounds.
“If the Chareidim declare themselves conscientious objectors, it will expose the political nature of the entire issue,” he asserted.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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15 Responses
Let’s bring out all the deniers that always know better about appropriate spiritual atmosphere even more than all the rabbis of the generation. Any article showing otherwise is always ripped apart because it makes them so angry to see people committed to a Holier life that it eats them inside
מי לה’ אלי
Anyone that is a faithful true Orthodox Jew must leave the state of Israel ASAP I tell you leave while you still can The agenda of the state of Israel is now to eradicate the chareidi from Jews.
This person is stating numerous things that are either false or irrelevant. For example:
– If you are a draft-dodger and thereby break the law and go to prison, then indeed the conditions may not be appropriate for charedim. But this has nothing to do with the fact that the army has excellent conditions for charedim who DO enlist, notably in the new Chashmonaim unit, under the leadership of Rav Dovid Leibel, who has been praised as a Gadol b’Torah on this very website.
– The charedim who were turned away were older men who were only going to be able to do Shlav Bet, and that is not what the army needs – it needs combat soldiers. There is most certainly a manpower shortage; that it is why so many people have been called up for endless rounds of reserve duty, being away from their jobs and families for many months on end.
– Charedim are not “conscientious objectors.” A conscientious objector is someone who objects to the war being fought. Charedim do not object to the war being fought; they just want everyone else to fight instead of them.
This is all written to meet the “we will die before drafting” narrative (which caused the tragic death of a 14 year old boy yesterday). Trying to prove that charedi soldiers are not needed when its completely obvious that they are is not gaining us points with anyone.
And unfortunately the yeshivish velt is no longer whispering that yeshivish lives or worth more than the rest of the Jewish lives, they are not blasting it on loudspeakers.
Our dati leumi brothers have been putting their lives on the line, leaving wives, children and jobs for hundreds of days so your children can learn Torah. Or work. Or learn a job. Or hang out on street corners. At the cost of their lives and their own learning Torah. Or have we also decided that their Torah is not the same Torah?
Rather die than draft? I would be afraid to die if I were you. The Eibishter will not look at your behavior well. Worried about losing maon discounts? Worry about no levyoson for you.
It is very difficult to know what is going on with the IDF without hearing both sides of the story. The IDF absolutely is short on manpower. I have one son, a father of three children, who is doing Milium as a combat soldier, and he keeps getting called up because there is no one to take his place. He is frum and treated very well. My other son, who is Hareidi and a father, also keeps getting called up and does his duty. He is also greatly appreciated. My husband, who is a doctor and just became 70 years old, BH volunteered to help the army because they are short on doctors. The army is grateful to use his help. As long as a guy shows up when he receives a draft notice, he won’t be arrested for this. Hopefully, something can be worked out not to remove Bachurs who are learning. Whether the army will accept a Hareidi guy in the IDF is dependent on if the army has the resources for his group and if he seems competent enough to be a combat soldier. There are also many jobnicks, and a soldier can request this. Yes, there are many problems that must be worked out with the army. But with the expanding population of Jews, BH, and the many threats to deal with, something has to be worked out.
This article is riddled with inaccuracies and lies – to point out a few:
1) There are excellent units in the army for both combat and non-combat chareidi soldiers – Chashmonaim and Kodkod to mention just two. There is not a women in sight in either of these units. The highest levels of kashrut and other charedi requirements are maintained. The conditions are not perfect but they are improving all the time.
2) Tens of thousands of soldiers have been doing hundreds of days of miluim because there is such a serious shortage of soldiers – to say the army doesn’t need more is an outright lie and everyone knows it. Maybe before Oct 7 there was no major need for more soldiers, but since then there is a major need. According to the army’s manpower and planning unit – there is an immediate shortage of 12,000 combat soldiers
3) To focus on conditions in military prison is ridiculous – firstly there are way to few chareidim in the army in general, and the percentage of them that get sent to prison is minute. If there are issues in military prison firstly don’t misbehave and get sent there and secondly, as the percentage of chareidim in the army increases the conditions will improve. To argue that chareidim shouldn’t go to the army because the conditions in military prison are unsuitable is ridiculous.
No news; it’s all about PERSECUTING the Chareidim NOTHING else!
Is there charedi news agencies interviewinng any of these charedi soldiers that got abused? Anyone have links to share?
“He cited data showing that thousands of Chareidim who arrived for second‑stage induction were immediately sent home with exemptions and that tens of thousands of reservists from disbanded units have not been called up even once since October 7. It should be noted that this data has been confirmed by other sources.”
Is the data available anywhere? I have a few people I’d love to show it to.
Whoever wrote religious Jews should leave Eretz Yisrael because of the government is a kofer b’ikar, and HKBH should silence this voice of the spies. Busha. My comments are interdispersed in brackets [ ]
emesayid says:
January 6, 2026 11:35 pm at 11:35 pm
מי לה’ אלי
Anyone that is a faithful true Orthodox Jew must leave the state of Israel ASAP [THIS IS THE ADVICE OF THE SPIES] I tell you leave while you still can The agenda of the state of Israel is now to eradicate the chareidi from Jews. [It has been this way from the beginning but despite this, we have grown and prospered!]
[To this kofer: NO>>>> Every Jew across the world should ascend to Eretz Yisrael and stand up to the Eruv Rav government, and uproot them and their agenda army.]
As far as the army, despite their advancements in the units for Chashmonaim, there are higher echelon generals still using the army to destroy Yiddishkeit and they are doing it in insidious ways……having a dance party with loose women in a hotel that they trick Charedi men who graduate Shlav Bet into, tricking Netzach Yehuda men to work with women in a kitchen, these are some of the tricks they are still up to. So while it appears there is progress, the agenda is still ever present and those who lead the army are at best severe traitors who feed our enemy and send our soldiers into the same house seven times after they invite the enemy back into it, this along with feedingthem is high treason and there is ZERO obligation to join an army lead by severe traitors interested in how to lose not to win wars…….on top of that I have heard from 1st hand soldiers the tricks they are still up to as of the last 90 days so its still an agenda and it has not changed, just the new methods of luring Charedim in have changed……an army bent on losing……bent on fighting buildings not the enemy, an army run to purposely lose its wars……this is NOT a Jewish army to defend Am Yisrael but a US proxy run to defend Am Yishmael…….this is the reality we live in in Eretz Yisrael and if you are not privy and even if you serve you have not heard the entire picture (FYI I serve in the Border Patrol as a volunteer and avoid their blatant tricks relatively easily, but I am older and would be very susceptible to their tricks if I was older…..I serve, but I serve on my terms and not theirs, I avoid their obvious occassional agenda driven “vacations” but I absolutely am against the agenda driven abortion army and their desire to lose wars on purpose and hand back Jewish land to terrorists, all the while pursuing Charedim under the guise of expanding programs to accomodate them while sneaking in the tricks to destroy them. That is the reality on the ground here in Eretz Yisrael, made possible in part by the galus Yuden who refuse to ascend and help destroy the Eruv Rav whose agenda is wipe out Torah, despite this we see miracles, but you in exile, will not, you will see terrible suffering if you wait and watch us fight here……it is time to ascend to Eretz Yisrael and fight for the Torah’s sake and wipe out the Eruv Rav and remove them from power. You must be here to do this, you must stop your excuses and ascend with kedusha and holiness to Eretz Yisrael……we need you here…..Mamdani does not want you, and he will let you know this along with his minions as time goes on, clearer and clearer.
For all the commenters who keep insisting there is a shortage of manpower…open up a chumash.
It’s quire clear from Vayikra 26:8 that numbers are never an issue. If we are doing the right thing then even a small number can be wildly successful. What is the right thing? Look at Rashi on Vayikra 26:3 – to be ameilim baTorah! If there seems to be a manpower problem then it’s because there are not enough people in the beis midrash.
Of course you might say, “chumash is nice, but in reality…”. In that case, open up Sefer Yechezkeil Perek 20. If you make it that far, take a close look at pasuk 32.
The same stupid talking points over and over. If there’s such a shortage how come the prime minister never brought it up? How come everything done when it comes to this is through the Supreme Court and the attorney general who always act against the government and are always Pro Terror? Why would anyone respect anything that they do or say when they never have Israel’s best interests in mind? They are the biggest Crooks of the century and the agenda the entire time was to bring down netanyahu’s government through Civil War and it slowly working
This shows that charadim don’t belong in the army
Israeli Charedi, your claim that military needs are met with tiny numbers by sending more people to the Beis HaMidrash is in very clear contradiction to the Torah and Halacha, which calls to draft men to the army in their multitudes rather than to send them to the Beis HaMidrash.
peretzt1:
No, it is the Zionists who are the heretics and the ones who emulate the sin of the spies by insisting that they need a “State” and army rather than relying on G-d to protect His children.
As usual, the Zionists have it exactly backwards.