“If not Uman, then Prison 10”: The Haredi plan that could strain the IDF
Dozens of deserters have already been arrested while attempting to travel to Uman. An emerging initiative suggests that hundreds of Breslov Hasidim will arrive simultaneously to force the army to choose between mass arrests and releasing them. The goal is to break the “siege” at Ben Gurion Airport.
In less than a month, the people of Israel will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, and the Breslov Hasidic movement is preparing for the great “kibbutz” in Uman, where tens of thousands of Hasidim traditionally gather at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
However, this year, against the backdrop of the wave of Haredi deserters, a large number of young men from the Breslov Hasidim are defined as deserters and are prohibited from leaving the country. In recent days, about 20 deserters have already been arrested while trying to reach Uman, some at border crossings and others during attempts to regulate their status ahead of the trip.
An alternative initiative is forming among the Breslov Hasidim: “If they don’t let us fly to Uman, we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah in Prison 10.”
According to them, if the deserters cannot leave the country, they do not intend to give up on the kibbutz, but rather to celebrate in the military prison and hold Rosh Hashanah prayers there together, with hundreds of deserters in Prison 10 instead of Uman.
This is not an official decision by the leadership of the Breslov Hasidic movement. But as Rosh Hashanah approaches, and enforcement against deserters is expected to increase, the movement estimates that the number of detainees will continue to rise. Last year, ahead of the trips to Uman, dozens of deserters were arrested at Ben Gurion Airport and at the crossings.
In the past, there were attempts by deserters to pass security checks at Ben Gurion Airport by blending in with other passengers, but the Israel Airports Authority has closed these loopholes. Today, anyone defined as a deserter who is barred from leaving the country cannot pass security at Ben Gurion Airport and fly.
Against this background, the Breslov Hasidim say that if an especially large wave of deserters arrives ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the IDF will face a real problem. On one hand, it is possible to prevent them from leaving and detain them at the recruitment office. On the other hand, a very large number of detainees will create a significant burden on the system. Therefore, in the words of the initiators, at a certain stage the army will have to choose: either take everyone to prison or release everyone.
It is precisely on this possibility that the initiators are counting. According to them, if many hundreds of Breslov Hasidim arrive during those days to attempt to regulate their status or leave the country, the IDF simply will not have the physical capacity to contain and arrest everyone. From their perspective, this is an attempt to create pressure that will cause the system to break what they call the “siege” on deserters at Ben Gurion Airport.
