A day before Shavuot, yeshiva students are still being held in the military prison after being arrested for desertion and due to the absence of legal recognition for yeshiva students.
In the haredi press this morning, a demand was voiced to release the detainees before the start of the holiday.
"The reality in which yeshiva students are held in the military prison on the eve of the festival of the Giving of the Torah is particularly harmful," haredi community figures were quoted in the newspaper HaMevaser.
"This is a holiday whose entire focus is the acceptance of the Torah, and students are behind bars precisely at this time," they added.
The arrests are being made against the backdrop of an Israel Police announcement that it will act to enforce the conscription law also against yeshiva students - a policy previously limited to the Miltary Police. The announcement sparked a public outcry among the haredi community, which views it as an attack on the status of Torah study.
The figures emphasized that the arrests are perceived as a message to the entire public. "This is an action seen as an escalation of the tension surrounding the issue of conscription," they claimed, and called on the army to act to immediately release the detainees, "as a minimal gesture ahead of the holiday."