Bypassing Netanyahu at the White House: The letter delivered to Trump at the meeting with the Admorim

The Haredi draft crisis in Israel has reached the desk of the President of the United States. In an unusual and extraordinary meeting held in the Oval Office, the Satmar Admorim met with US President Donald Trump. During the meeting, which sends a resounding message bypassing the government to the political echelon in Jerusalem, the rabbis handed the President a dramatic letter under the title "Urgent appeal for the protection of the rights of the Haredi community in Israel."

The letter, which was physically submitted by Rabbi Malkiel Kotler of Lakewood and drafted by activist Shimon Shisha — one of the prominent figures in the Haredi community and in the struggle against the draft — calls on Trump to intervene personally to stop what is defined in the document as unprecedented religious persecution.

"Jews live in fear, American citizens are imprisoned in Israel."

The letter, dated September 3, 2026, begins with flattery toward Trump for his historical attitude toward Jews, but quickly moves to a sharp attack against the State of Israel. The rabbis beg the President to intervene on behalf of about one hundred thousand yeshiva and seminary students, clarifying that the cancellation of the 75-year-old historical exemption is a step with devastating consequences for them. According to them, the IDF is a secular army that is unable and unwilling to provide for the cultural and religious needs of the Haredim, and service in it means a complete abandonment of their religious identity.

The descriptions provided in the letter regarding the situation in Israel paint a bleak picture of a police state. The authors note that dozens of yeshiva students are already imprisoned in military jails due to their refusal to be drafted. They describe a reality in which a young Haredi man is forced to walk the streets in fear and go to sleep at night knowing that he could be arrested at any moment solely because of his faith. To stir the anger of the American administration, the letter highlights a particularly explosive issue: it is claimed that thousands of young people holding dual Israeli-American citizenship are currently prevented from leaving the borders of Israel and returning to their homes in the United States for fear that they will be arrested for draft evasion.

The final part of the letter presents a poignant historical and legal comparison between American liberty and the Israeli reality, in a move intended to play on the President's ego. The authors emphasize that while the United States has granted draft exemptions to religious students for nearly two hundred years and protects their freedoms under the First Amendment to the Constitution, in Israel this protection does not exist.

"It seems inconceivable that in the Land of Israel religious freedoms are denied to Jews, but unfortunately this is the situation," the appeal states.

The rabbis conclude the document with a direct and bypassing request, calling on the White House to exert heavy weight on the decision-makers in Jerusalem. They ask Trump to instruct his administration to handle the issue directly with the highest echelons of the Israeli government, and to urge them to protect the religious freedoms of the Haredim instead of persecuting them. As a reward for his political intervention in Israel's internal crisis, the Admorim promised the American President that if he takes on the task, he will "be recorded in history alongside Thomas Jefferson and George Washington."