The IDF has granted a "holiday pardon" to haredi individuals arrested for draft dodging, the military confirmed on Sunday night.
The motion "is a long-standing and accepted practice in which the release of soldiers serving detention or prison sentences is brought forward by a few days ahead of the holiday," the IDF noted, insisting that any claims of special treatment for Haredi soldiers are "baseless" as they make up only a small percentage of those eligible for early release.
The army further stressed that the move was taken “without any intervention or influence from the political echelon.”
Criticism of the IDF's decision
Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman slammed the decision in a post to X/Twitter. "The IDF's decision to release dozens of deserters from military prison, who will celebrate the holiday with their families, is a surrender to draft-dodging and reward to the Jerusalem faction and the most extreme and anti-Zionist elements of haredi society."
"I wish us all that in the coming year we will be among those who serve and not among those who evade."
The Partners in Service Forum also sharply criticized the IDF's decision, calling the motion "yet another slap in the face to the families who will once again have to split this holiday between their homes and the front lines."
"The serving public deserves representatives who will ensure this distortion comes to an end," the forum went on. "From now on, the ultra-Orthodox public must join the security effort, because we all want to celebrate together with our families — if not this Rosh Hashanah, then at least in the year ahead."