Overview
- Hundreds of thousands gathered in Jerusalem for a two‑hour atzeres tefillah against expanding conscription of full‑time yeshiva students, with rail service curtailed and some roads blocked as large crowds assembled.
- At least ten Chabad bochurim returning from a year of study in New York were detained at Ben‑Gurion Airport for failing to report to draft authorities, with community advocates warning more arrests are likely as additional students land.
- In a Supreme Court hearing, Justice Yael Wilner pressed the state to imprison 5,700 yeshiva students classified as draft evaders, challenging officials who argued mass arrests would not advance recruitment and would strain detention capacity.
- The leaked proposal by MK Boaz Bismuth would impose personal sanctions on non‑reporting students, set escalating annual targets toward drafting half of each haredi age cohort within five years, drop a binding combat quota, and count civil‑security service toward goals; debate was delayed at the prime minister’s request and the IDF plans an oversight committee.
- Backlash spanned haredi parties and Likud figures, opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced the plan as a draft‑dodging law, leading Religious Zionist rabbis urged attendance at the rally, and Rabbi Eliyahu Zini prohibited participation, as reports described tense scenes including a TV reporter needing police protection.