A large number of Yeshiva students were arrested last night at Ben-Gurion Airport for failing to report for IDF service.
The students were trying to travel for the High Holidays. These arrests bring the total number of detainees since the beginning of the week to 70.
The IDF has been running a significant campaign to arrest draft dodgers, including the use of checkpoints and a draft-dodger database. The arrests at Ben-Gurion Airport in particular have focused.on those trying to make the annual pilgrimage to Uman or the Chabad center in New York.
The haredi community has denounced the operation as religious persecution. Representatives of the haredi community are calling for the immediate release of all detainees before the High Holidays, and accuse the authorities of "persecuting Torah scholars."
According to haredi activists, among the detainees are yeshiva students who were unaware of an order against them, and others who consulted the authorities via attorneys and were told they were permitted to travel.
In addition to the airport arrests, reports were received of arrests of married yeshiva students in various cities across the country as part of the broad enforcement of the haredi draft law.