Photo by
Gideon Markowicz/TPS-IL on 17 June, 2026
Police Will Not Detain Haredi Draft Refusers on Election Day, Israeli Officials Say
Jerusalem, 23 June, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Israeli election authorities said Tuesday that police will not detain Orthodox (Haredi) military draft refusers on election day, a temporary decision aimed at preventing enforcement actions from interfering with voting rights for thousands of men classified as deserters.
The Central Elections Committee said the moratorium was approved by committee chair Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Israel Police Chief Daniel Levy. “Given the importance of the right to vote,” the committee said, “every voter can reach the voting station without fear.”
Officials emphasized that the suspension of enforcement applies only during voting hours and is limited to election day, with the aim of ensuring uninterrupted access to polling stations for all eligible voters.
While no election date has yet been set, elections for the Knesset must be held by October 27, marking the end of the current four-year parliamentary term.
In recent days, Haredi protesters have demonstrated outside prisons where draft-refusers are being held, or blocked traffic.
In early June, Haredi rioters reportedly smashed windows at Sohlberg’s home, damaged a vehicle belonging to the judge’s wife, threw stones, and blocked access roads in his community of Alon Shvut, in the Gush Etzion region south of Jerusalem.
The governing coalition has been strained by its failure to pass legislation addressing conscription exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students.
An estimated 80,000 Haredi men eligible for military service have not enlisted. Coalition leaders dependent on Haredi political support have repeatedly struggled to find a compromise acceptable both to Haredi leadership and to Israelis demanding equal military service obligations.
The military has begun preparations to conscript yeshiva students after Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that exemptions for the Haredi community were illegal.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli citizens. However, Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and leading rabbis reached an informal “status quo” arrangement under which Haredi men studying in yeshivot, or religious institutions, were largely exempted from service. At the time, no more than several hundred men were studying in yeshivot.
