JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s army is taking action to move student soldiers out of a hesder yeshiva whose leader reportedly urged soldiers to defy orders to evacuate settlements.
The IDF told students at the Har Bracha yeshiva that they have 60 days to find another place to study if they want to stay in the hesder program, which combines yeshiva study with army service. About 100 students and soldiers at the West Bank yeshiva, located near Nablus, received the order, the Hesder Yeshiva Association confirmed to Ynet on Wednesday.
The order comes more than a week after the yeshiva was removed from the hesder program.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak cut ties between the army and the yeshiva after the institution’s head, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, refused repeated requests to meet with Barak over statements he reportedly had made urging his students to refuse orders, such as assisting in the evacuation of West Bank settlements and outposts.
The Hesder Yeshiva Association told Ynet it is working to get the yeshiva reinstated to the program. Army Radio reported Wednesday that the yeshiva will take legal action to return to the hesder program.
On Sunday, at a meeting of the association, Melamed said he is opposed to insubordination in the army.
