High Court ruling is too little, too late - comment

The High Court of Justice’s ruling on Tuesday stated the obvious: that the government of Israel must abide by the existing National Service Law, which states that every 18-year-old Israeli must report for military service.

The real question was how far the court would go and which tools it would use to ensure that the government indeed adheres to the law. During the June 2 hearing, attorneys pleaded that the High Court hand down a historic ruling that will change reality and solve the issue once and for all, after 25 years of limbo. They gave as an example the ruling in 1996 that enabled Alice Miller to apply for the Israeli Air Force’s prestigious pilot’s course, paving the way for further integration of women into the IDF. The attorneys argued that a similar ruling this time could break down the door and become a defining moment in the integration of haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) into the army and into Israeli society at large. The time for such a ruling was ripe, the attorneys argued.

However, the court did not deliver; it refrained from taking steps to ensure full implementation of the law. It did not go into the numbers of draftees; it did not set guidelines as to what percentage of haredim would need to enlist to meet the constitutional requirement for equality; and it did not outline how the attorney-general or other gatekeepers should enforce the ruling.

Perhaps wisely so. The court wields neither purse nor sword and has no way of enforcing the law if the government ignores its ruling. But after 25 years, the path is still open for the situation to remain pretty much the same.

Government cannot ignore ruling

The government cannot afford to completely ignore the ruling and refrain from drafting any haredim. But what it can do – as the prime minister insinuated this week in a Channel 14 interview and what the Likud once again suggested in its response to the ruling – is pass a new law that will be palatable enough for the haredim in order not to bring down the government, albeit insufficient in solving the fundamental inequality between non-haredi and haredi Jewish Israelis, which has grown during the ongoing war.

Thus, the bill is likely to face yet another challenge in the High Court. The High Court will likely rule it unconstitutional and strike it down once again. And in a few months or years, we will find ourselves back at square one.

This has already happened, not once but twice, since the blanket haredi exemption was ruled unconstitutional in 1998. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that it will not happen a third time, and in the meantime, haredi IDF service will remain insufficient. The High Court did not address this and took no steps in its ruling to prevent it.

However, perhaps Israelis are in for a positive surprise. Perhaps Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will withstand pressure and direct the IDF to begin drafting haredim en masse. Perhaps the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, under the leadership of the Likud’s Yuli Edelstein, will come up with a bill that will lead to real change. Perhaps the current security situation, coupled with the High Court ruling, will lead more haredim to join the IDF of their own accord.

The ruling did not – perhaps it could not – guarantee any of this. Essentially, Israelis must now hope that the government, which depends on the haredi parties for its existence, will begin to do what the haredim view as a grave social threat. Israeli governments have refrained from doing so for 25 years, and the current one does not seem intent on doing so now.