Police have been systematically preventing the army from arresting draft evaders in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods,  IDF officials claimed during a meeting held by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara last week.

According to the meeting’s brief published Sunday, IDF Military Police officers attested to “significant difficulties” when coordinating with police to arrest draft dodgers in neighborhoods with a large Haredi population.

“In practice, Military Police officers do not receive, as a general rule, clearance from Israel Police to carry out operations in Haredi or mixed neighborhoods,” the brief said, adding that any planned IDF operation against draft evaders requires prior approval from police in the area.

Army officials also noted that according to police policy, “members of the Haredi community detained in random arrests by the police — who turn out during the detention to be deserters or evaders — are in fact released.”

Rather than holding deserters in custody for half an hour so that Military Police can pick them up — as the agencies had previously agreed — police regularly free ultra-Orthodox evaders after instructing them to report to the army.

The claims were made during a discussion led by Baharav-Miara with........

© The Times of Israel