The High Court of Justice on Sunday held a high-stakes hearing on the contentious issue of the long-standing exemption of ultra-Orthodox men from IDF service. The hearing could lead the court to give a final order to the state to begin drafting haredi men, a move that could have dramatic social and political ramifications.
The two issues at the heart of the hearing
The hearing centered on two issues: First, whether or not the government could continue to avoid recruiting haredi men into the IDF, after the expiration last year of the law enabling them to do so; and second, whether or not the government could continue providing funding for haredi yeshivot for students of military age who no longer had a legal exemption from IDF service.These two issues were first heard on March 28. The High Court ruled then that the state could no longer continue to exempt haredi men as a group from service, and that it could no longer provide funding for haredi students whose exemption had expired. However, this ruling was temporary, and the question at the heart of the hearing on Sunday was whether to turn this temporary order into a permanent one. The petitioners in the case included a wide variety of individual civilians and civil organizations, such as the Movement for Quality Government in Israel.
The High Court of Justice ruled in 1998 that the government did not have the authority to exempt an entire group from service in the IDF, as this amounted to discrimination. A number of laws have been proposed since then to regulate the issue. The most recent law, which granted haredi men the ability to delay their service annually until receiving a final exemption at age 26, expired on July 1, 2023. The government on June 25 decided to give itself until April 1, 2024, to come up with a new law. With this decision having expired, there is no longer a legal basis for the exemption.
Adv. Doron Taubman, representing the government, argued that it did not dispute the fact that it was legally required to draft haredi men and that to refrain from doing so was illegal. However, Taubman argued that the Defense Ministry had the prerogative to decide when and how to enlist these haredi men into the IDF and that the court should not intervene.On the issue of funding, Taubman agreed that yeshivot should not receive funding for haredi men who ignored draft orders. However, even though the law exempting haredi men expired, they had not actually been summoned yet and therefore were not violating any draft orders. The government could thus continue issuing the funding, Taubman argued.Taubman is a private lawyer and he was hired by the government after the Attorney-General’s Office, which is the government’s statutory representative in court, refused to back the government’s positions.
Hearing was in front of an enlarged bench
The hearing was held in a packed courtroom and in front of an enlarged bench comprising nine justices. Some of the exchanges between the attorneys and the judges were heated, and at a certain point Likud MK Tally Gotliv, who sat in on the hearing but was not a side to it, attempted to interrupt the judges and make an argument. Some statements by Taubman were met with incredulous laughter by the crowd.At one point, a haredi man began shouting that he would “die and not enlist.” He was quickly removed from the courtroom.The extended nine-member bench, led by interim Chief Justice Uzi Vogelman, peppered Taubman with questions.On the issue of the general exemption, the judges pressed Taubman on whether the Defense Ministry could continue delaying the exemption indefinitely. The Attorney-General’s Office wrote in a submission to the court on Thursday that the IDF was prepared to draft 3,000 haredi men until the end of 2024, and the judges pressed Taubman on whether, for example, the Defense Ministry had the legal prerogative to refrain from doing so.The hearing also touched on the government’s controversial judicial reforms, which it attempted to promote in 2023. Deputy Attorney-General Aner Hellman argued during the hearing that the government’s conduct during the case served the same purpose as the judicial reforms – to relieve itself of the duty to adhere to the attorney-general’s interpretation of the law. On at least two occasions in proceedings relating to the case, the government approved proposals that the A-G deemed unlawful.The Movement for Quality Government in Israel’s chairman, Adv. Eliad Shraga argued that the number of 3,000 haredi men in 2024 was too low and was part of an attempt to continue delaying the application of the law. Shraga called on the court to clarify in its ruling that the state needed to act to draft haredi men in larger numbers. In a video statement put out later on Sunday, Shraga said, “I think the wind is quite clearly blowing in our direction.”Adv. Dafna Holtz-Lechner, who represented a group of 240 women who are mothers of soldiers, added that the High Court should also set a clear timetable for the government to execute its duties, to then be able to hold the government accountable if it does not meet its deadlines.Adv. Moshe Shapira, who represented the Ayalon Forum for Human Rights, added that a decisive ruling by the High Court will create a ripple effect that will lead to greater integration of haredim into Israeli society. Shapira gave as an example the famous High Court ruling in 1995 that enabled Alice Miller to become the first woman to join the air force’s prestigious Pilots Training Program. This decision didn’t just affect Miller; it kicked down the door for thousands of other women to serve in the IDF in roles that previously were unavailable to them, and Shapira argued that a historic ruling regarding the haredi draft would have a similar effect.A poll published by Army Radio on Sunday, which was conducted by Manu Geva’s Midgam Institute, found that 81% of haredim supported the view that haredim should not join the IDF at all, no matter the circumstance, and some 65% of haredim said the haredi parties should leave the governing coalition if the state begins to recruit haredi men.The issue indeed has significant political ramifications. The haredi parties in the coalition enjoy a combined 16 seats, and it is enough for even one of the two parties, Shas (nine seats) and United Torah Judaism (seven seats) to leave the coalition to cancel the government’s 64-MK majority in parliament. The 64 MKs do not include Minister-without-Portfolio MK Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, as Gantz is likely to leave the government in the near future after setting an ultimatum a number of weeks ago regarding a hostage deal and an end to the ongoing war in Gaza.