The "Emet LeYaakov" organization sent a sharply worded letter on Monday to former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, demanding that he publicly retract his statement that "draft evasion is killing our soldiers" and publish an apology.
The letter states that a complaint has been filed with the Israel Police to examine the criminal aspects of the remark, and that the organization intends to approach organizations in Israel and abroad that deal with preventing incitement.
The letter further asserts that Bennett’s statement was not a slip of the tongue, but rather "a calculated remark that attributes responsibility for the loss of soldiers’ lives to an entire civilian population." The organization defines this as "a grave, outrageous, and unprecedented collective accusation that crosses every boundary of legitimate discourse in a democratic country," and warns that statements of this kind may "pave the way for actual harm to this public by extremist elements."
The organization strongly criticized Bennett’s use of the term "draft evasion" when referring to the community of yeshiva students, describing it as "a severe distortion of reality."
According to the organization, this community devotes approximately 108 consecutive months to Torah study - the longest period of national service of any track in the country, compared to 32 months of regular military service.
The organization further charged that Bennett is focusing solely on the haredi public while ignoring many other sectors that do not serve in the army.
The organization demands that Bennett retract the statement, clarify that he does not hold the Torah-studying public responsible for the deaths of soldiers, and publish a "clear, explicit, and unequivocal" public apology - warning that failure to respond appropriately will result in legal and public measures being taken.
The letter was written following an interview given by Bennett to Kan News on Monday morning, in which he said, “I’m going to say something I haven’t said before, but it needs to be said - draft evasion is killing our soldiers." Bennett made it clear that this was not a slip of the tongue, adding: “It’s a harsh statement - and I stand behind it. Our soldiers, especially the reservists, are suffering severe burnout. This is harming operational effectiveness. Sometimes they can’t hold a position they’ve already captured, so they have to retreat and recapture it again - and that costs lives."
Bennett continued, “There are 100,000 healthy haredim of draft age. We will draft them in a very simple way - by completely stopping the transfer of funds to anyone who doesn’t serve, doesn’t work, doesn’t attend a school that teaches mathematics and English, and doesn’t teach against IDF soldiers. What sustains this draft evasion is the tens of billions of shekels that this government - Netanyahu, Deri, and Goldknopf - is transferring."