Two arrests of bnei yeshivos took place in Eilat on Tuesday, with a bochur and newlywed avreich from Jerusalem taken into custody and handed over to the Military Police.

However, it should be noted that according to some reports, the bochur was arrested on criminal charges and was only revealed as a draft evader afterward.

Following the arrests, Peleg Yerushalmi announced that they are planning to hold protests on Wednesday over the yeshivah bochur’s arrest.

The arrests came on a particularly tense day, as an official legal advisory document was published calling for a significant tightening of punishment for those absent from military service for 350 days or more. Additionally, the current timing — at the end of the Tishrei Bein Hazmanim period and ahead of the beginning of the winter zman — means that many yeshivah students are currently outside the walls of the Batei Medrash, increasing the possibility of encounters with law enforcement officers.

Media personality Yinon Magal sharply criticized the decision to increase enforcement.

“The directive by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon to increase the arrests of Chareidim a minute before the elections is an explicitly political decision, intended to inflame and agitate the Chareidi public and put the draft issue back on the agenda in order to harm the faith-based bloc,” Magal said.

The arrests in Eilat came just hours after a turbulent night in Modi’in, where serious clashes and disturbances erupted during an attempt to arrest a talmid from Yeshivas Ohr Hachaim, whose chasunah is scheduled to take place in 20 days.

Hundreds of protesters arrived after the “Tzeva Shachor” alert system was activated, and the Military Police ultimately left the scene without making the arrest.

Meanwhile, Chareidi affairs correspondent Yoeli Brim reported that if the detainees are not released immediately, Peleg Yerushalmi is preparing to launch mass demonstrations and block major traffic routes.

A senior official in one of the Chareidi parties told Kikar HaShabbat: “The situation we find ourselves in now, and throughout the recent period, in which there is no draft law and legal officials are making efforts to push the IDF and police to resume arrests — which will clearly lead to riots and demonstrations — proves to us, first and foremost, that Peleg Yerushalmi was right all these years in all of its arguments regarding the draft issue.”

The official added: “We will not lend our support to the formation of any government unless it first passes a draft law that will provide a solution — before anything else.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)