By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

“Anyone who receives a notification to enlist must tear it and not go.”

Israel’s former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has urged Jewish ultra-Orthodox students, known as Haredi Yeshiva students, to reject the Israeli army’s notifications asking them to enlist in military service.

In a recording obtained by the Kan public broadcaster, the rabbi was heard saying: “All learned persons (sons of Torah) are exempt from going to the army, even if they’re deadbeats and don’t study.”

According to The Times of Israel on Wednesday, he added: “There are female soldiers, officers and profanity. There are terrible things there — don’t go there, period.”

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Yosef’s call came after the Israeli army announced that it would notify Haredi Yeshiva students to enlist next Sunday.

“Anyone who receives a notification to enlist must tear it and not go,” he reportedly said.

‘Inappropriate Things’

Ynet News reported that Yosef also said that Haredi men who do not study in yeshivas should not enlist.

“Every Torah scholar is exempt from enlisting, even someone who is idle and not studying. Those who join the army deteriorate. There are female soldiers, officers and inappropriate things there. Don’t go there, period,” he is reported as saying.

Yosef has repeatedly spoken against the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the army.  Earlier this year, he even threatened they would leave the country if forced to serve into military service.

“If they force us to join the army, we would all fly out of the country, buy tickets, and go,” he was quoted as saying by Israel’s Channel 12.

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The Israeli army has been facing a military personnel shortage for months amid its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, as well as incursions into the West Bank and cross-border clashes with Hezbollah.

Protests

On Tuesday evening, violent clashes erupted between Israeli police and ultra-Orthodox Jews who took to the streets to vehemently oppose their mandatory military draft.

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Israeli public broadcaster KAN released footage showing demonstrators obstructing the road and braving water cannons deployed by the police to break up the protest.

Haredi Jews account for approximately 13% of Israel’s approximately 9.9 million population and do not serve in the military, instead dedicating their lives to Torah study, according to the Anadolu news agency.

Ongoing Genocide

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 38,713 Palestinians have been killed, and 89,166 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

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Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

(PC, Anadolu)