With the Knesset’s summer session ticking toward its final weeks and the High Court’s deadline looming, the IDF announced its readiness to begin issuing 54,000 draft notices to eligible chareidi men starting next Tuesday, July 8.
However, military officials have encountered a significant logistical obstacle: there are currently not enough prison facilities to detain those who refuse to enlist.
According to a report on i24NEWS by journalist Yinon Yitach, the IDF is now considering the urgent establishment of hundreds of new detention spaces to handle expected noncompliance. This plan, however, hinges on budgetary approval.
At present, the IDF’s military prison system can only house a few hundred detainees, far short of the projected number of draft evaders, which could reach into the tens of thousands at its peak.
“We won’t be able to carry out effective enforcement,” warned a senior defense official cited in the report.
As of now, the army has yet to decide whether to send out all the notices in one wave on July 8 or to spread their distribution gradually throughout the month of July, in accordance with legal requirements.
This development comes as political parties — particularly the chareidi factions — await the presentation of a consensus draft law by MK Yuli Edelstein. The pressure is on to find a workable solution before the court-imposed deadline and amid mounting tensions over the future of chareidi military exemptions.
{Matzav.com Israel}
