Haredim

Grapevine: Vexing logistics

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

Israeli "Wonder Woman" star Gal Gadot (3rd-R) and Jerusalem film festival director Roni Mahadav-Levin (2nd-R) attend the opening ceremony of the event in Jerusalem on June 17, 2025.
A plenum session and a vote on a bill to freeze arrests of haredi draft evaders at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, July 14, 2026.

Israel's government knew the risks of haredi draft evasion – and ignored them - opinion

Amid reports that the Shas Party could be willing to sit with him in government, Yashar Party head Gadi Eisenkot did not rule out that option entirely. Here, Eisenkot attends the Sagi Laws for Equality Confrence at the Peres Center in Jaffa earlier this week.

Why Gadi Eisenkot is rejecting the haredi political embrace that once helped Netanyahu win

President of the Supreme Court Isaac Amit arrives for a hearing on petitions alleging flaws in the legislative process of the Communications Bill at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, July 13, 2026.

High Court names nine-justice panel to hear petitions on law halting arrest of haredi draft dodgers


Knesset votes to freeze arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders amid IDF manpower crisis

Bill passes 58-54 despite legal warnings, IDF opposition • Netanyahu heckled by opposition lawmakers shouting 'disgrace' before leaving plenum ahead of the vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a Knesset vote on a bill to freeze arrests of haredi draft evaders, in Jerusalem, July 14, 2026

Voting rights and PACs: Solutions for the haredi draft evasion problem - opinion

Our soldiers are exhausted. Over half of our reserve soldiers have logged hundreds of days of military duty. We can’t continue to ask them to shoulder the burden alone.

The Knesset House Committee votes to advance the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties' bill that seeks to enshrine Torah Study in the country's Basic Law. June 30, 2026.

Basic Law: Debasing Torah - opinion

The proposed Basic Law: Torah Study would grant constitutional status to Torah study, but in practice it would turn a sacred obligation into a political and legal instrument. That would harm Torah...

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from the Vizhnitz Hasidic dynasty study Torah outside the Justice Ministry in Jerusalem during a silent protest against the imprisonment of yeshiva students who failed to comply with military recruitment orders, July 1, 2026; Illustrative.

Jerusalem partially saves historic Bikur Cholim building after backlash over haredi seminary plan

Opponents propose turning it into a cultural or arts center, heritage campus, performance venue, cafes and community spaces, or a museum on Jerusalem medicine and preservation.

The Jerusalem Bikur Cholim hospital in Jerusalem closes due to lack of money. November 30, 2010.

Haredi leadership and Netanyahu are facing the same dilemma - opinion

Haredi leadership is throwing everything at the wall: a Basic Law, road-blocking protests organized by the party, voting boycotts in the Knesset – anything to convince their base they can deliver

HAREDI DEMONSTRATORS protest in Jerusalem on July 23, 2025.

Laundering human capital: The reckless amnesty bills and their debasement of the Torah - opinion

Under the guise of concern for the world of Torah, two bills are on the table: the Basic Law: Torah Study on the one side, and the Law of Exemption from Arrests on the other. 

Haredi anti-draft protesters block Highway 4 near Bnei Brak denouncing the detention of a draft dodger, February 9, 2026.

Likud MK Kallner opposes criminal arrests for haredi draft evaders, backs economic sanctions

Kallner, a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told 103FM that he does not think arresting yeshiva students is 'the right way.'

An Israeli soldier guard as young men gathered during a demonstration by Ultra-Orthodox Jews against Israel's military draft on June 17, 2026 outside the Beit Lid military base in Kfar Yona, Israel. The conscription of young ultra-Orthodox men into the military, from which they were long exempt.

Jews must stop letting this one mitzvah fuel fanaticism - opinion

I hope that we will take this lesson to heart and remember that Jews are commanded to observe the entire system of mitzvahs – both ritual and ethical.

FIREFIGHTERS AND Palestinians extinguish a fire in agricultural fields near the town of Huwara in the West Bank, after an alleged attack by Israeli settlers.

Israeli military nearing breaking point without more manpower, IDF warns Knesset committee

The reported gap in platoon commanders comes as the military continues to warn of broader manpower shortages across combat formations.

IDF troops operating in the Wadi Saluki area of southern Lebanon.

Arad residents protest alleged Gur Hassidic ‘takeover’ of city amid rising violence

A rally is planned in the city for Thursday amid escalating tensions, arrests, and accusations of selective police enforcement.

Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Jewish men rally against the imprisonment of yeshiva students who failed to comply with IDF draft orders, on June 18, 2026; Illustrative.