During a follow-up meeting with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara regarding enforcement of Chareidi conscription, Military Advocate General Itai Ofir presented steps to tighten enforcement.

At the conclusion of the discussion, Baharav-Miara issued an order instructing all state entities to immediately increase criminal and civil-economic enforcement measures against bnei yeshivos.

At the meeting—in a dramatic shift of policy—the police agreed for the first time to assist the military police in carrying out proactive arrests of bnei yeshivos in areas surrounding Chareidi cities and neighborhoods, subject to prior coordination between the IDF and the police.

For now, however, the police still refuse to assist with arrests in Chareidi cities and neighborhoods, saying that such operations require additional manpower that is not currently available.

Until recently, the police maintained they could not provide backup to military police in arresting bnei yeshivos due to manpower shortages. In a previous hearing, the Attorney General rebuked the police, stating that manpower shortages do not justify failing to implement the Supreme Court ruling mandating increased enforcement measures against bnei yeshivos.

It is still unclear which neighborhoods will be classified as “peripheral areas.”

The police’s decision is a dramatic development that increases the likelihood of more violent clashes between Chareidim and police.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)