Yeshiva Students Warned to Avoid Police Amid Draft Arrest Fears

Yeshiva officials are issuing unusual warnings to students ahead of the traditional “free Shabbat” after Shavuot, as concern grows in the Haredi yeshiva world over arrests of students classified as draft evaders.

In an unusual recorded message distributed Wednesday night on the information line of Birkat Ephraim Yeshiva, mashgiach Rabbi Betzalel Hinman warned students to avoid contact with police, including officers who may be operating in civilian clothes.

“Dear yeshiva students, we have a somewhat urgent announcement,” Hinman said. “We have heard that there are police officers trying in various ways, including not in police uniform, to arrest yeshiva students.”

The warning came as many students prepared to leave yeshiva and return home for Shabbat. Hinman urged them not to take risks on the way.

“Now there is a vacation Shabbat, and some are traveling home,” he said. “We ask everyone to be careful and not take risks. Think what distress it would cause if instead of arriving home for Shabbat, someone sits for ten days, half a month or a month, depending on what they decide. It is a terrible and unpleasant feeling.”

Hinman gave practical instructions, telling students not to enter areas where they see police activity.

“Be smart and do not go anywhere where you see there is police,” he said. “It is better to miss a bus than to go to a place that looks like a police ambush.”

The warning followed several recent arrests of yeshiva students who were handed over to military police after being detained by Israel Police. According to the report, the new enforcement policy by Police Commissioner Danny Levy has led officers to detain yeshiva students found to be draft evaders and transfer them to military authorities.

Tensions escalated overnight after three yeshiva students were handed over to military police. Police said one of them was detained after driving wildly on Route 60, and checks showed he was absent from enlistment.

The arrest sparked protests outside the Binyamin police station, where demonstrators overturned a police trailer, burned cardboard and bent fences. Police and Yasam forces dispersed the crowd using force and riot-control measures.

Protests also reached Kiryat Ata, where activists demonstrated outside the private home of a security officer at Prison 10. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir condemned the incident and called on law enforcement authorities to act firmly against rioters.

The warnings mark an unusual atmosphere around the post-Shavuot “free Shabbat,” a longstanding yeshiva-world custom in which students return home after a long stretch of study through the Omer period and Shavuot. This year, the routine break is being overshadowed by fear of arrests and the ongoing crisis over the lack of a new Haredi draft law.