"Cynical political spin": Clash between the Haredim and Ben Gvir over arrests of draft dodgers

The leaders of the Haredi parties attacked National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, accusing him of increasing arrests of yeshiva students who are draft dodgers amid the elections. Ben Gvir responded with an open letter, accusing the Haredim of inaction and cynical political spin, and claimed that these arrests stem from the instructions of the Attorney General and the High Court.

The leaders of the Haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, launched a frontal confrontation with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whom they accused of increasing arrests of yeshiva students who are draft dodgers. The spiritual leader of Shas, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, attacked Ben Gvir at a festive event and said: "He wants there to be unrest among yeshiva students who would go out to vote for him." Chairman of Degel HaTorah, Yaakov Asher, appealed to Ben Gvir with a request not to increase the arrests specifically during the election period, and accused the Attorney General of a political campaign using the police. In response, Ben Gvir published an open letter to the leaders of the Haredi parties, accusing them of inaction on behalf of their voters and of a cynical political spin intended to divert the discourse from their failure. Ben Gvir claimed that the increase in arrests stems from the instructions of the Attorney General and the High Court, and that his party promoted laws that the Haredim did not promote, including the amendment to the law for gender-segregated degree studies. In Likud, they examined a response to Ben Gvir's campaign but refrained due to fear that Otzma Yehudit would fall below the electoral threshold.