A young man from a haredi household in the southern region, who was arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport a year ago on suspicion of desertion, was photographed on social media vacationing in Thailand.
His arrest a year ago sparked many demonstrations by extremist haredim who demanded his release. "A haredi deserter was arrested, a scholar who lives in the south of the country and is within the first year after the wedding. He was detained at the airport and transferred to the military prison. Protests are being organized near the prison and preparations are being made to continue the struggle in case the imprisonment is extended", wrote the Jerusalemite Faction at the time.
It later emerged that the alleged scholar was indeed raised in a haredi household but is not a yeshiva student and instead works for a living.
Despite this, he received broad support from leading haredi Torah authorities. Rabbi Avraham Salim, a member of Shas's Council of Torah Sages, wrote to him, "To the dear scholar, we all pray and hope that you will be released from detention soon, blessed are you for being apprehended over matters of Torah."
Rabbi Zvi Friedman, one of the leaders of the Jerusalemite Faction, wrote to the young man during his arrest, "You merited to sanctify God's name and to declare before the investigators that you aspire to be a Jew who observes Torah and commandments. Therefore give up your life so that you will not be conscripted into an army that serves as a melting pot for the shedding of God's yoke and for a secularism worse than death."
Even after his release, the young man received festive receptions from leading rabbis while dressed as a haredi.