Israeli politicians Meir Porush and Yisrael Eichler launched blistering attacks Wednesday night against the Israeli government, police, and judiciary over the growing wave of arrests targeting chareidi yeshiva bochurim classified as draft dodgers.
Speaking in an interview on Radio Kol Berama, Porush broke his silence and sharply criticized everyone from Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu to coalition partners and Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levy over the recent enforcement operations.
At the start of the interview, Porush described the political calculations that guided the chareidi parties during negotiations over the draft law and related legislation.
“We were careful not to bring other laws because they told us it would create a huge uproar and we would not be able to pass the draft law,” Porush said. “When we realized there would be no draft law, we decided on a ‘give-and-take’ approach — you want help transferring powers from the Interior Ministry to the Prime Minister? Fine, give us the daycare law.”
Porush then escalated his rhetoric dramatically, comparing the arrest campaign against chareidi draft dodgers to Communist-era persecution and openly calling on police officers to refuse orders.
“We live in Israel but feel like we are living in Bolshevik Russia, which arrested Torah learners. The police commissioner found something to build his reputation on — harming yeshiva students? A police officer who has even a little faith and tradition should say: ‘I do not want to carry out this order.’”
Porush also blamed Israel’s Supreme Court for the ongoing crisis and argued that weakening the judiciary must become a central political objective.
“When you arrive at that mountain called the court system — that is where the power is, and that is where it must be struck and diminished. The power of the court must be eroded. That is what must be done in order to emerge from this crisis.”
The veteran chareidi lawmaker also directed criticism toward Netanyahu personally, accusing the prime minister of prioritizing his own political interests early in the coalition’s term while sidelining the needs of the chareidi public.
“Netanyahu speaks very nicely, he has that ability, but he should have done more. When he was busy at the beginning of the term arranging several personal laws for himself, we cried out that our laws needed to be passed. He told us, ‘Wait, I don’t have a majority.’ We waited and gave him time until we understood we weren’t getting anywhere.”
Porush additionally criticized the Religious Zionism party, warning that the policies now being directed at the chareidi world could one day be turned against their own yeshiva frameworks.
“This is a major disappointment. Religious Zionism does not understand that the day will come when they will lower the boom on them as well. One day they will ask why hesder yeshivos serve fewer months, and it will come back on them too. There is some kind of pettiness there — I don’t know from whom.”
Toward the end of the interview, Porush outlined what he described as a new strategy for future coalition negotiations, declaring that chareidi parties should refuse government positions until core issues affecting the chareidi community are resolved.
“After the elections we must not take positions — no ministers, nothing — until they settle our fundamental and critical needs. First the essential matters, and only afterward positions.”
At the same time, Deputy Minister Eichler delivered his own harsh criticism during an interview with Radio Kol Chai, accusing Israel’s High Court of Justice of conducting a campaign against chareidi Judaism and Torah study.
“What the High Court has done is dictatorship — stripping away the most basic human rights as an inseparable part of their war against the existence of chareidi Judaism and against Torah learning.”
Eichler also discussed delays surrounding legislation tied to daycare subsidies and said some officials warned him that advancing the bill would damage efforts to pass a draft law compromise.
“They argued to me that if I advance the daycare law, it would harm the draft law,” Eichler said. “Those imposing sanctions on Torah learners will not stop there, because the goal is not to save a few hundred shekels from that woman. The goal is to prevent Torah learning.”
The deputy minister also blasted Commissioner Levy over coordination between the Israel Police and military police in the arrest operations.
“When the police commissioner announces that he is subordinate to the High Court and not to the supervising minister and the law passed by the elected Knesset, that statement sends the most severe message since the establishment of the state,” Eichler said.
According to Eichler, “the police, which is responsible for public order, is becoming part of the revolutionaries who created this dictatorship.”
In a separate interview on Radio Kol Berama, Eichler intensified his criticism of the judiciary.
“The High Court committed an outrageous act that is completely illegitimate. The message that passed today in the preliminary reading is clear: you cannot turn the State of Israel into Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Eichler also accused anti-religious factions within the Knesset of driving the confrontation while influencing both the media and the courts.
“There is currently a dangerous atmosphere in the Knesset coming from anti-religious extremists, who are not many in number but are very loud, and all the media and judges are in their hands. They are leading the country toward chaos and are already speaking about war.”
Later in the interview, Eichler directly attacked the participation of the Israel Police in operations targeting draft dodgers, arguing that such enforcement falls entirely outside civilian police authority.
“According to the law, the civilian Israel Police has absolutely nothing to do with draft-related arrests. The very fact that the police are involved in this is part of the war against chareidi Judaism,” he said.
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Matzav.com}
