A yeshivah bochur was arrested overnight Monday in a planned police ambush on Highway 383.

The bochur, Meri Sabag, a talmid of the Darchei Ish Yeshivah, was on his way back to the yeshiva at 2 a.m. after visiting his parents to help them when the car he was in was stopped at a surprise checkpoint between Beit Shemesh and Moshav Tirosh.

The police officer entered his details into the system, and after he was identified as a “draft evader,” called the military police. The officers then used deceptive tactics in order to deter Sabag from calling the protest hotline, telling him that the military police did not plan on arresting him but would only issue an official summons to the draft office.

Within fifteen minutes, an unmarked car arrived, three plainclothes officers jumped out along with a soldier, who handcuffed Sabag, put him in their car, and sped away from the scene.

He was taken to the Yoav military detention camp.

Sources from his yeshiva issued an urgent call to bochurim and avreichim: “Don’t be naive. The system operates in all types of ways.”

In the wake of the arrest, Peleg Yerushalmi warned of protests in the coming days.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)