Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs has appealed to Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Boaz Bismuth to advance emergency legislation that would freeze the arrests and criminal proceedings against bnei yeshivos for three months.

In a letter to Bismuth, Fuchs warned that the ongoing arrests are not encouraging enlistment within the Chareidi community but are instead driving it further away.

“These arrests of Lomdei Torah are not promoting enlistment among the Chareidi public; on the contrary, they are pushing enlistment further away. There is a real concern that this will tear apart relations with the Chareid public—to the point, chalila, of civil war—less than a week before the start of the Three Weeks,” he wrote.

Fuchs said growing unrest is evident even among Chareidi families whose sons already serve in Chareidi military frameworks, including combat units and Chareidi hesder yeshivos. He explained that many parents had been willing to allow sons to enlist as long as their other children could continue learning Torah in yeshivah. However, once it became clear that bnei yeshivos themselves could be arrested at any time, those same families began opposing further enlistment.

He also cited a letter signed last week by 12 Roshei Yeshivos of Chareidi hesder yeshivos, warning that the wave of arrests has “shaken the Chareidi public to its core. Instead of bringing people closer, it pushes them away. Instead of building trust, it destroys it, and instead of enabling a responsible dialogue, it creates a sense of persecution, pain, and radicalization.”

Fuchs also addressed the status of avreichim between the ages of 26 and 29. He noted that with the expiration of Chapter 3A of the law, the provision setting the exemption age at 26 also lapsed, leaving even avreichim—whom the IDF has no interest in drafting—subject to arrest. He argued that such arrests do not benefit the state “in any way” and only deepen tensions.

Because comprehensive legislation cannot realistically be completed before the elections, Fuchs proposed advancing only the provisions dealing with the suspension of criminal enforcement. Under the proposal, a three-month temporary order covering the election period would freeze arrests and criminal proceedings against bnei yeshivos whose full-time occupation is Torah study, subject to verification of their status and effective oversight. The measure would not apply to Chareidim who are not yeshivah students.

Fuchs emphasized that the proposed temporary order would not exempt bnei yeshivos from military service, grant them an IDF deferment, or revoke the financial sanctions imposed following the High Court ruling. Its sole purpose, he said, is to temporarily suspend criminal enforcement and arrests in order to prevent the crisis from escalating and allow time to reach a broader legislative solution.

(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)