Hareidi woman (illustration)
Hareidi woman (illustration)Israel news photo: Flash 90

A married hareidi woman who planned to fly to Crown Heights, Brooklyn for the holidays is in military jail after the IDF accused her of being an enlistment evader.

The imbroglio began when the woman showed up at the Military Police offices and asked why she was told by airport authorities that she could not leave Israel. She was told that an order restricting her from leaving Israel had been issued against her, and that she has been "wanted for a long time."

She explained that she is a married hareidi woman, but this impressed no one and she was promptly arrested and taken to military jail.

According to the Chabad On Line website, MKs Michael Ben Ari (National Union) and Uri Makleb (UTJ) sent an urgent letter to the Defense Minister Wednesday asking him to intervene in the affair.

"D., who grew up in a hareidi family, was a candidate for enlistment who did not report that she is religious, despite having been educated in hareidi institutions and leading that lifestyle," they wrote.

"D. did not obey the law when she failed to settle the matter of her enlistment / non-enlistment, at the time when she was required to report for service. But now, after she married, she asked to settle her case vis-à-vis the Military Police, and when she came with her husband to settle the matter she was immediately taken to jail."

"To the best of our understanding, and along with our criticism of D., this is an unacceptable act. It is hard to understand why it was so urgent to arrest her when she herself showed up to settle her case. Could she not have been summoned for trial?"

"The arrest of a married hareidi woman is seen in the public as a serious breach of her modesty. We turn to you and ask for your immediate intervention for D.'s release. And there is no doubt that from here on in she will show up as required for her trial. There, she will be able to present her arguments and if there is a need for punishment, a way must be found to do it without violating the rules of modesty."