Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, leader of the consevative Eidah HaChareidis faction, delivered a sermon at the Dushinsky synagogue in Jerusalem, during which he compared the government's policy on Haredi conscription to the Spanish Inquisition.
Rabbi Sternbuch broke into tears during the sermon, and called the government's conduct on the Haredi conscription issue, "a decree of annihilation."
Thousands of attendees filled the main study hall. Among those present were members of the court of the Edah HaChareidis, the Dushinsky Rebbe, and rabbis from various Haredi communities.
Rabbi Sternbuch began his remarks by referring to the haredi young men who are in military detention. "Many young men are now sitting in detention because they risked their lives by refusing to serve in their army. And we strengthen them - 'blessed are you who were apprehended for the words of Torah'," he said.
He went on to compare the government to the Inquisition. "The rulers behave like the worst of nations, like the Inquisition in its time that persecuted Jews for observing Torah and commandments. Woe to us that in our days it has come to this, that they want to harass us from observing the Torah and the commandments of the Lord," he said.
He then broke into tears and said, "In these days we say 'Avinu Malkeinu: cessation of speech and sword and destruction from the children of Your covenant'. We must direct our prayers that the Holy One, blessed be He, will annul this decree of annihilation from upon us! Their entire purpose in conscripting the haredim is to remove from us the observance of the Torah," he said.
Rabbi Sternbuch concluded with a ruling: "I have already said several times that according to Halacha it is absolutely forbidden to go to their army. Young men who receive draft orders from the army should immediately discard the letters, and not enter into debates with them," he said.