Six draft dodgers arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport after attempting to board plane illegally

Six people sought to evade Israel's military draft by leaving through Ben-Gurion Airport, but airport security arrested them in two separate incidents on Wednesday.

The Israel Airports Authority said security officers caught two of the suspects in Terminal 1 and four in Terminal 3. A subsequent investigation by the Interior Ministry's Population and Immigration Authority found that all six had IDF draft orders barring them from leaving the country.

N12 reported that the suspects were haredi, or ultra-Orthodox. The arrests come amid a broader dispute over the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Israelis into the IDF.

Earlier this month, an official IDF social-media channel posted a video advising haredi draft evaders how to avoid arrest at Ben-Gurion Airport. The army deleted the video after Army Radio reported on it and questioned the IDF about the post.

The video appeared on the military's official Instagram account for haredi service members ahead of an expected surge of thousands of Israelis traveling to Uman, Ukraine, for the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage.