A political controversy erupted after Shas chairman Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf visited Prison 10, where haredi yeshiva students detained for failing to comply with military conscription orders are being held.
The visit, intended as a show of support for the detainees and a protest against their arrests, sparked sharp criticism from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
"While the people of Israel are burying their heroic soldiers and comforting bereaved families, the haredi members of the Knesset are living in a parallel universe and visiting draft-dodgers in military prison," Smotrich wrote. "What a disgrace. What a lack of awareness. What disconnection and callousness."
During the visit, Deri met with approximately ten haredi detainees, listened to their accounts of prison conditions, and presented them with copies of holy books bearing a personal dedication from Rabbi David Abuhatzeira.
According to Deri, he pledged to work to ensure that the detainees receive the religious study materials they require and called for an end to what he described as the criminalisation of Torah students.
Goldknopf, who was accompanied by his aide Motti Babchik, likewise condemned the arrests of yeshiva students and argued that the current policy toward Torah scholars must change.
Outside the prison, Deri met with the father of one of the detainees, who has been conducting a solidarity protest near the facility. Offering words of encouragement, Deri reiterated his opposition to the arrests.
"From here we cry out: stop treating Torah students as criminals," Deri said upon leaving the prison. "Shas will act this week to advance a Basic Law: Torah Study, which will enshrine the supreme value of Torah learning in the State of Israel."
Goldknopf echoed the sentiment, saying: "We came to the Land of Israel after two thousand years of exile not so that our brothers and sons would be arrested because they are Torah students. This reality must change."