This morning (Sunday), the Supreme Court is discussing petitions that require the recruitment of yeshiva students and the withdrawal of budgets from institutions whose students do not enlist.
The discussion is taking place with an expanded panel of nine judges - acting President of the Supreme Court Uzi Vogelman, Yitzhak Amit, Noam Sohlberg, Daphne Barak-Erez, David Mintz, Yael Wilner, Ofer Grosskopf, Alex Stein, and Gila Kanfi-Steinitz. The final decision is not expected to be made today.
Government representative Attorney Doron Taubman said during the discussion that "the government recognizes the importance of army recruitment. The government sees as of utmost importance the increase in recruitment targets for yeshiva students. Alongside this, the government recognizes the great difficulty for the haredi community."
The judges read the position of the security establishment, which states that 3,000 haredim can be recruited this year. Attorney Taubman said that the government does not agree to this.
The Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, permitted the government to obtain private representation in the Supreme Court on the recruitment law but opposed the decision of the government that additional government bodies will receive private representation. "The government is making its own rules, undermining the rule of law," argued the Attorney General.
In her response to the Supreme Court, she wrote that under the current legal situation, the defense establishment must act to recruit yeshiva students and not transfer financial support due to those who do not enlist.
With the expiration of the draft exemption law in July 2023, the government issued a temporary government order that allowed the postponement of the recruitment of yeshiva students. The validity of the temporary order expired on April 1 after the coalition did not reach agreements on a new recruitment law.
Last month, the Prime Minister's Office announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would advance the recruitment law that passed its first reading in the previous Knesset and was submitted by law minister Benny Gantz, who then served as defense minister. Minister Benny Gantz responded to this: "A political maneuver, the recruitment law that we introduced then - is irrelevant to the reality after October 7."
