Approximately 100 haredi draft dodgers are currently being held in military prison after immigration police arrested them while attempting to leave Israel over the past few days.
Most arrests were conducted as the young men attempted to leave the country to spend the Jewish holidays with their rabbis or in Uman, Ukraine. In contrast, some were conducted across Israel by Military Police members.
Haredi activists are pressuring for their release ahead of Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) and warn that leaving them in prison during the High Holidays would "cross a red line."
"The message that his being conveyed here is one of alienation from the haredi community," the activists claim. "This is unparalleled insensitivity. A state that wants to call itself a 'Jewish state' can not ignore the significance of Rosh Hashana."