A day before the High Court of Justice hearing on the drafting of yeshiva students, 400 former security officials requested to join the Movement for Quality Government (MQG) in its August 16 petition against the government’s conscription policy.
Former chiefs of Staff Moshe Yaalon and Dan Halutz and ex-Mossad director Tamir Pardo were included among the IDF generals, Shin Bet and Mossad officials, and Israel Police officers who wished to make the case that the government should not be able to enact a new system that would exempt certain Orthodox Jewish religious students from conscription.
In Israel, the Jewish and Druze populations are subject to a mandatory draft. Other segments of the population may volunteer in the Israeli military.
“Without an equal burden, the security stability of the State of Israel is in danger,” said Pardo. “The prolonged war in Gaza teaches us the critical need to expand recruitment circles to all parts of Israeli society. An equal burden is not a slogan, it is a strategic security need and this demand for true equality in enlistment should be heard from everyone who holds this country dear in their heart.”
A need to increase manpower
MQG chairman Dr. Eliad Shraga said that the security officials knew better than anyone what Israel’s strategic needs were and that without increasing the IDF’s manpower it would leave Israel vulnerable.
Representatives of the officials said that they would be making a statement to the media outside the Supreme Court building in the morning before the hearing. The MQG and other NGOs are expected to hold protests outside of the building.
The petitioners contend that the blanket exemption for one segment of the population violates the principle of equality. The government’s arrangements constitute discrimination against those who are drafted, the MQG has argued. The government is also allegedly acting contrary to the Defense Service Law, which does not have any provisions for such exemptions.
The MQG is set to argue against the June 25 cabinet decision to instruct the Defense Ministry not to enlist yeshiva students until a new draft bill has been passed. The government said it would introduce a new draft bill by March 31, and on Wednesday Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara told the High Court that if no bill is passed by April 1 then the government would be required to enlist yeshiva students.
Tomorrow’s hearing comes after a previous 2014 haredi draft bill expired on June 1 after having been deemed unconstitutional by the High Court – though the government had repeatedly requested deferments for a solution.
The MQG had previously petitioned the High Court on July 2 to intervene in the cabinet deferment decision, but the court had rejected the petition because the expiration of the draft law was still fresh and could not have been addressed by the government within such a short period. Further, the court said that other avenues for addressing the problem had not yet been exhausted.