Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman has filed a criminal complaint with the police against Rav Yitzchok Yosef, the former Sephardic chief rabbi, along with several senior chareidi rabbinic figures. The complaint centers around their open calls urging bochurim in yeshivos to refuse orders to report for IDF service—actions Liberman says blatantly break the law.
Speaking to The Times of Israel, Lieberman explained that he had twice appealed to the Attorney General and the national police to take legal action against these prominent rabbonim. “If there is no response to the second letter, then we will turn to the High Court of Justice,” he said at a press briefing held before Yisrael Beytenu’s weekly Knesset gathering.
Israeli law stipulates that those who encourage draft evasion during a time of war could face up to 15 years in prison.
A letter dispatched in April by Lieberman’s legal representatives was sent to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Defense Minister Yisroel Katz, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and top police officials. It demanded prosecution of both Rav Yosef and Rav Dov Landau, along with several other influential rabbanim.
Following the High Court’s June 2023 decision which overturned the longstanding exemption policy for yeshiva students, various leading rabbinic figures have issued clear directives not to cooperate with the military’s draft procedures. These instructions have been accompanied by public campaigns and guidance systems meant to help the chareidi tzibbur navigate this new legal landscape.
Rav Landau has told yeshiva students not to comply with conscription orders. He wrote that they “should not report to the recruiting office at all” when called up.
Similarly, Rav Yitzchok Yosef has instructed bochurim to rip up their draft notices and dispose of them in the toilet. He recently cautioned that if the state begins detaining yeshiva students who defy the draft, the chareidi community might be compelled to relocate out of Israel.
Lieberman’s letter argued that encouraging refusal to serve “is a serious offense” that poses a direct threat to Israel’s national security, yet the authorities “do not see fit to prevent it.” He wrote that this failure to uphold the law effectively grants immunity to a group of public figures whose open defiance “harms the majority of the Israeli public.”
Lieberman’s spokesperson confirmed that his criminal complaint had been formally received.
“There’s nothing complicated about the evidence here,” Lieberman told The Times of Israel, expressing disbelief that the Justice Ministry, the police, and the IDF have taken no meaningful steps. “You cannot say that you are lacking 10,000 soldiers and not exercise any enforcement on the issue of deserters and evaders,” he said.
The IDF has confirmed that it currently faces a shortage of about 12,000 soldiers, with roughly 7,000 of those needed for combat roles.
As it stands, nearly 80,000 chareidi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted. From July 2024 through April 2025, the military issued 18,915 draft notices to individuals from the chareidi community. Only 232 of those men reported for duty.
{Matzav.com Israel}