State Attorney to investigate Gedolim for opposition to drafting of Haredim

The Deputy State Attorney will examine, prior to a criminal investigation, whether the statements of a number of Gedolim against any draft whatsoever of Haredim amount to a criminal offense, according to a report today (Sunday) by Army Radio.

Following the opposition of a number of high profile Gedolim including former Rishon Letziyon Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, Labour MK Efrat Rayten wrote Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to investigate whether these statements amount to criminal endorsement of lawbreaking.

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef caused a stir days ago when he openly said that draft notices should be torn up and flushed down the toilet and that even those who are idle and not studying Torah in yeshivah should not consider going to the IDF.

Similarly, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, leader of the yeshivah world and a rosh yeshivah himself, told draft-eligible yeshivah students that "you are permitted to be deserters, it's a mitzvah that you be deserters!" according to Haredi news site Bechadrei Haredim.