"Exemption from conscription? Do it!": The conversation between Goldknopf and the Haredi deserter

United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf was asked by a Haredi young man whether to obtain an exemption from IDF service through acquaintances, and replied "Do it." The party claimed he perceived a cognitive difficulty, but the young man is healthy and studies at a prominent yeshiva. The affair exposes the industry of fictitious exemptions and the helplessness of the Haredim facing the conscription crisis.

United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf was asked yesterday by a Haredi young man whether to obtain an exemption from IDF service through "acquaintances who deal with it," and advised him to do so. The young man asked whether to wait for a law that would regulate the exemption, and Goldknopf replied that his party "is not a partner in the government at all" and does not know whom it will join after the elections. When the young man pressed, "So what should I do?", Goldknopf replied: "Do it." Haredi MKs are in a state of helplessness after failing to resolve the conscription crisis, while sanctions are imposed on deserters. The industry of fictitious exemptions is widespread in the Haredi sector. United Torah Judaism claimed that Goldknopf "was under the impression that the young man suffers from a cognitive difficulty" and advised him to obtain a medical exemption, and that presenting the matter as a recommendation for a fictitious exemption is a "distortion." However, the young man is healthy in body and mind and studies at a prominent Lithuanian Haredi yeshiva. Yesterday it was published that senior government officials decided to waive the law canceling the arrest of deserters, and the High Court froze the law.