High Court hears petition to immediately summon all eligible haredim for IDF service

The High Court of Justice on Wednesday heard a petition demanding that the IDF immediately send out draft summons to some 80,000 military-age haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men.

The petitioners, four NGOs, argued that the IDF has not fulfilled its legal duty to send out draft orders to all eligible haredim after the legality of their exemption ended in June 2024. The NGOs are the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), the Defensive Shield Forum, Israel Hofsheet, and six women who lead a movement called Ima Era.

The state’s response to the petition came during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, just hours before the hearing. The State Attorney’s Office requested that it be allowed to file an updated response by April 1. By then, it said, the IDF will have received and analyzed draft data from the second trimester of its draft cycle, which ends at the end of February.

The IDF’s draft year begins in July and ends at the end of June. According to the State Attorney’s Office, during the first 2024 draft trimester, which lasted from July to the end of September, the IDF sent out 3,000 draft summons for haredim. There were 413 responses to the summons, including 249 haredim who completed the classification processes and dozens who have begun to serve, it said.

During the first trimester, 916 haredim began their service. Most of them had received earlier draft summons. The IDF sent out an additional 7,000 draft summons close to the start of the second trimester in November, for which data is not yet available.

The state’s response to the petition listed additional data presented by the IDF in a meeting with the Attorney-General’s Office and other bodies on January 1. The IDF said it has the capacity to draft 4,800 haredim in the 2024-2025 draft year, 5,760 in the 2025-2026 draft year, and from the draft year beginning in July 2026, it will be able to draft an unlimited number of haredim.

According to the state’s response, the numbers for the first two years were a constraint because the IDF was still working on developing new frameworks for haredim.

In the past, the state said, haredim who reached the age of 16 and a half (when all Israelis receive an initial summons to a first assessment, known as tzav rishon) were given the option of a shortened assessment in which they declared that they intended to study in a yeshiva.

Under the new protocol, haredim who reach that age will receive a summons for a full assessment, followed by procedures that apply to all other Israelis.

Defense Minister Israel Katz had attempted to prevent the inclusion of the assessment that the IDF will be able to draft haredim without limits beginning in July 2026 in the state’s response, KAN News reported Tuesday.

He is working on a new haredi draft bill, mandating that within seven years, 50% of each haredi cohort will be drafted, the report said.

In response, Katz did not deny the report but said the state’s response had included the IDF’s position in full.

Following the court hearing on Wednesday, the attorneys representing Israel Hofsheet said in a statement: “During the hearing, the judges made it unequivocally clear that hollow declarations regarding yeshiva students’ conscription are no longer acceptable.

Following the filing of the petition, the General Commander’s Order has already been amended. Under the revised order, every individual eligible for military service born before November 2006 must report for service within the next four months.

“From that date forward, all yeshiva students eligible for service who have not received a formal exemption will be considered in violation of the law. Such violations carry a full range of legal consequences, including restrictions on leaving the country, potential arrest, and criminal prosecution.

“In light of these developments, we hope the court will mandate the issuance of personal conscription orders to all eligible candidates for military service and ensure the effective enforcement of the conscription duty,” Israel Hofsheet said.