Ultra-Orthodox MK Goldknopf asks PM Netanyahu to finance Chabads trip to New York

This comes after the Breslov hassidim acquired a framework that permits for NIS 10 million to be used in their Rosh Hashanah pilgrimages to Uman, Ukraine.

MK Yitzhak Goldknopf, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) celebration, is demanding a new framework be put in place to allow the financing of the Chabad Hassidim’s annual trip to New York with authorities assets and particular exceptions for draft dodgers.

Goldknopf asks for a related treatment that the Breslov hassidim acquired with the latest framework that permits for NIS 10 million to be used in their Rosh Hashanah pilgrimages to Uman, Ukraine.

“I would like to respectfully raise an additional request that has come up in many inquiries directed to my office from heads of yeshivas and important rabbis from the Chabad community: to expand the framework so it also includes the thousands of Chabad Hassidim who travel every year during the holidays to be with their spiritual leader,” Goldknopf said in the letter.

“For them too, it is a spiritual experience of the highest order that has no substitute, and it is our duty to allow them the same rights granted to others,” he added.

What is the framework for the Rosh Hashanah pilgrimages to Uman?

The framework, Maariv reported, would enable some 5,000 draft dodgers to take part in the Rosh Hashanah pilgrimages to Uman without restriction when leaving the nation.

This exception would apply only to those with a navy exemption associated to their yeshiva enrollment and those whose standing was affected by the expiration of the exemption law.

Lapid: “Why should our tax money fund flights to Uman?”

MK Yair Lapid, the opposition chief and chair of Yesh Atid, criticized the federal government’s determination to enable draft dodgers to fly to Moldova utilizing public funds.

“Why should our tax money fund flights to Uman? Since when does the government fund flights abroad for private citizens? And why on earth is Deri demanding a plan that would allow draft dodgers to fly? The only place they need to fly to is jail,” he posted on X/Twitter.

Avigdor Liberman, the pinnacle of Yisrael Beytenu, also opposed the choice: “A government that, during wartime, sanctifies and encourages draft evasion has no right to exist.”