Hours after Israel’s High Court unanimously ruled that ultra-Orthodox men are obligated to serve in the army, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sent letters to the defense chiefs and the government, saying that the state must comply with the court’s ruling and immediately begin the draft process
Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered the defense establishment to immediately recruit 3,000 yeshiva students to the Israel Defense Forces in addition to the recruits already serving, in light of the High Court’s ruling Tuesday that the state cannot exempt them from service.
According to Baharav-Miara, 3,000 is an initial number “which does not fully reflect the army’s current needs nor advance the sharing of the burden equally.”
She therefore ordered the defense establishment to present a plan to increase this number and to “take the necessary steps to maximize recruitment potential.”
In a letter she sent to the legal advisers of the defense establishment, Finance Ministry and Education Ministry, Baharav-Miara also ordered that any action to transfer funds, “directly or indirectly, which in effect supports the activities of those who avoid conscription or circumvents the court’s ruling,” must be avoided in light of the ruling.
The High Court’s ruling determined that in the absence of a suitable legal framework, yeshivas whose students have not enlisted despite not receiving an exemption from military service or a formal postponement must no longer receive government funding.
The court ruled unanimously in an extended panel of nine High Court justices, led by acting president of Israel’s Supreme Court Justice Uzi Vogelman. The ruling is likely to have a significant impact on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the ruling, saying that “It is strange that the High Court, which for 76 years has refrained from forcing the military conscription of yeshiva [students] in a ruling, is doing so now, when we are on the verge of legislating a historic conscription bill and when the most recent ultra-Orthodox army draft was the highest ever.”
If Netanyahu’s government succeeds in passing that legislation, new petitions will be filed against it and the High Court will have to rule again on its legality.
Ultra-Orthodox politicians had stronger reactions to the ruling, including MK Israel Eichler (UTJ), who said that the High Court is “a dictatorial body” that “wants to force a religious war in the streets and division among Jews.”
Source Haaretz
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