Israel's High Court endorses IDF haredi draft, calls to freeze yeshiva funding

The High Court of Justice on Thursday night issued a blockbuster decision endorsing a universal draft, including the Haredi sector, starting April 1 as a matter of principle, while in practice deferring most enforcement until August 9.The decision largely accepted the recommendation of the Attorney-General’s Office on these issues, invoking a legal universal draft immediately but providing months of transition time for the institutions to adjust to the new reality.

As of Monday, some institutions or classes within institutions will already have their funds frozen, but on a larger scale, the freeze won’t take effect until August 9. Unsaid in the decision is that the next few months will also give the government an extension to potentially pass a new law, bypassing the current decision.

Furthermore, it remains unspoken that holding elections before August 9 could potentially freeze the entire process. Technically the decision was an interim order, such that the court also ordered a hearing before an expanded panel of nine justices to be scheduled sometime in May to resolve a variety of issues raised by its decision, which could lead to the decision being final.

The decision could potentially destabilize Netanyahu’s government if its two haredi parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, decide to exit the government.

The original law that granted the haredi exemption was ruled unconstitutional already in 2017 but did not officially expire until the end of June last year. Prior to its expiration, the government passed a decision to give itself until the end of March 2024 to formulate a new law. State funding for yeshivot is contingent on the number of students with legal exemptions, and with March ending and no new law in sight, the court ruled that there was no longer a legal basis for the funding to continue.

However, the ruling applies only to those who reached military age after the law expired in June 2023 and to those whose military deferral ended after the law expired. Yeshivot will continue to receive funding for students who do not fall into these categories. In addition, yeshivot require a minimum number of legally exempt students to receive funding, and if the ruling pushes certain yeshivot under that number, they can continue receiving support for their legally exempt students until the end of the yeshiva school year on August 9.

'I can understand those who don't want to serve in IDF'

Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri lambasted the decision in a written statement. “The interim decision that the High Court of Justice gave to immediately halt the yeshiva funding is a mark of Cain and an unprecedented mistreatment of Torah students in the land of the Jews.

Precisely during days when the nation of Israel needs heavenly mercy in the North and South, the High Court of Justice is leading a harmful approach against Torah students, upon whom the world stands. Shas will continue to fight for yeshiva students’ right to persevere in Torah and will consider its next steps,” Deri said.

The Degel Hatorah faction in the United Torah Judaism party expressed outrage at the decision, warning that they would not let it pass without a response.

“The High Court of Justice and the clerical system have decided on an all-out struggle against Torah scholars and Torah education, and they must prove to everyone that they’re in charge in this country, and they will also decide for us which coalition we will go to,” said Degel Hatorah.

“How can an interim order be issued in an hour when an ordinary person can wait years for a ruling? Everything is timed out. We will take care of Torah students and Torah education, and we will ask the Torah elders how to behave politically in light of the obvious damage to Torah students and the entire haredi public.”

The faction ended their statement by quoting Exodus 1:13: "The more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out.” The verse refers to how the Jews grew in number in Egypt despite being oppressed by Pharoah.

The Movement for Quality of Government in Israel, a central petitioner in the case, said in response to the ruling:“The court issued a historic interim order this evening, marking the end of unlawful discrimination in the draft: no more support for those who do not share the burden. This interim order is a precedent-setting step on the road to equality, and those who serve thank the court for its important decision.”

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took an extremely rare step and wrote a letter to the judges on the High Court of Justice, requesting an additional 30 days to solve an impasse with Israel’s haredi parties, with whom he had not been able to reach a compromise on the issue.

Netanyahu argued in his letter that while the government initially gave itself nine months to come up with a solution (July 2023–March 2024), in practice it only had three months, due to the outbreak of the October 7 war. According to the prime minister, a “short period of time” was necessary in order to “conclude the professional staff work” and set up specific frameworks that will enable haredi soldiers to maintain their lifestyle during their service, as well as enable yeshiva students whose “vocation is Torah” to continue studying.

The prime minister’s letter broke with precedent, which dictates that the attorney general must present the government’s position to the court. Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid said in a written statement, in response to Netanyahu’s letter, “During wartime, the only thing that Netanyahu dealt with during the last few days was to seek a blanket exemption from enlistment for haredim that will ensure the stability of his coalition.

His response to the Supreme Court is an affront to one’s intelligence; there is no reason to approve another delay.” Labor MK Gilad Kariv wrote on X, “After six months of war, Netanyahu’s response is not just a slap in the faces of the mandatory and reserve soldiers, but a total abandonment of Israeli security.

“The prime minister can think that life goes on after October 7, but the Israeli public has changed. The foot-dragging, the lies, and the attempt to gain time will no longer work.”

The government was originally due to file its position with the court at the beginning of this past week, but a series of last-minute delays led to its position being filed at approximately 5:00 p.m. on Thursday evening.

In her legal opinion, Baharav-Miara asked the court to order a universal draft, but to grant a delay of any financial sanctions against violators until sometime in June, when the current academic year ends. The attorney general said that such an extension was necessary to allow students and institutions to prepare for the significant changes in their lives and operations that would occur once the new draft went into effect.

Despite this sentiment, the entire government has known since the summer that a new bill had to be formulated and presented to the court by this week. The court struck down the old policy as unconstitutional over the summer but granted several months to make exactly the adjustments for which Baharav-Miara now requests additional time.

In fact, the government’s plan until October 7 was to pass a Basic Law granting a total exemption to Haredim along with additional measures to prevent the court from being able to veto the exemption. Haredi parties have reportedly been incensed with Netanyahu over the past few days, as he never delivered on his promise to enshrine the haredi exemption in law.

Normally, a major event like the current war would be a strong argument for the government to be given more time to discuss the issue, given how busy it has been. But due to the war’s transformation of public opinion into demanding a much larger army to protect the borders and considering the 1,500 Israelis who have died, the war has strengthened the public’s will to demand greater haredi involvement in the IDF or national service and may have emboldened the court as well.

Earlier on Thursday, National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz refuted anonymous claims that he had made a deal with the haredi parties in which he agreed to extend the haredi exemption from service in exchange for bringing down the government.

“I never conditioned the subject of enlistment on an election, and I will not support proposals whose purpose is to bypass the High Court of Justice and not provide a solution to the needs of the IDF and Israeli society, which the government has proposed until now,” Gantz wrote.