A group of American Orthodox rabbis and lay leaders appeared here before Israel’s Ambassador Abba Eban to complain against the three-month prison sentence imposed by an Israel court on Rabbi Israel Grossman who objected to the drafting of women on religious grounds. The delegation was headed by Michael Tress, president of Agudath Israel of America, and Dr. Sampson Weiss, director of the National Council of Young Israel.
A spokesman for the Embassy said that Rabbi Grossman is not actually imprisoned but is free on bond. He was convicted, the Embassy said, of defaming the Israel Army as a “brothel” and urging disobedience of a law governing the conscription of women for Israel’s defense forces. The Embassy spokesman pointed out that the rabbi is free pending appeal and that the case rests with the properly-constituted courts in Israel. He also emphasized the fact that all religious women in Israel desiring to be exempted from Army service are accorded this right.
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