The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking to cancel enlistment orders issued to approximately 5,500 Haredi yeshiva students.
The petition, filed by the organization "Emet LeYaakov in Israel," argued that the draft orders were issued through a flawed process, relying on information allegedly obtained unlawfully from the National Insurance Institute. The group claimed the procedure was both illegal and discriminatory.
The petition requested that the enlistment notices be annulled and reissued through a proper legal process—effectively canceling the original orders. However, the court rejected this argument, ruling that the IDF has since changed its policy and no longer relies on data from the National Insurance Institute when issuing draft notices.
According to the court, the IDF has now begun sending enlistment orders to around 54,000 candidates for military service without using specific eligibility criteria based on external data sources. In light of this policy shift, the justices concluded the petition was no longer applicable and ordered it dismissed. A hearing that had been scheduled for September 11 was subsequently canceled.
Despite the ruling, the petitioners expressed concern over the consequences for those who received the original draft orders. They warned that many haredi men affected by the earlier wave of notices are now classified as "draft evaders," exposing them to the risk of arrest and other penalties by the military police.
They argued that canceling the original orders would have granted those individuals a temporary reprieve—effectively shielding them from being labeled evaders for several months, even if new notices were sent immediately.
The organization vowed to continue its legal efforts, stating that additional petitions concerning the enlistment of Haredi men will be filed in the near future. The court ruled that each side will bear its own legal costs.