AG says government acting in contradiction to the law regarding Haredi conscription to the IDF
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara says that the government is acting “without authority,” “violating express rules of the court,” and “undermining the rule of law” in the manner it is addressing the new legal situation regarding ultra-Orthodox men who are eligible for military conscription.
The attorney general made her comments in the state’s response to petitions to the High Court of Justice demanding the immediate conscription of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students following the expiration of all legal frameworks allowing for blanket military service exemptions.
Her anger with the government stems from cabinet resolution 1724 passed in April which overturned her determination that only the government, and not the Defense Ministry and IDF, could have private legal counsel for the High Court petitions.
“Under the guise of a dispute apparently concerning the scope of separate [legal] representation allowed, the government sought to create an unprecedented situation in which it determines for itself the interpretation of the law, contrary to the binding opinion of the attorney general.”
In short, Baharav-Miara explains, despite the fact that she had determined that failing to draft ultra-Orthodox men into the army in the current legal circumstances was illegal, and the fact that the court had not ruled otherwise, the government wanted to bring about a situation in which the attorney general’s position was not binding on the Defense Ministry and the IDF, despite this being the legal reality in Israel for decades.
“The government – through a private attorney that it had hired – [would be the one] to determine the interpretation of the law for itself and for state institutions, that they [the institutions] would receive legal instructions from that private attorney,” Baharav-Miara wrote.
A hearing for the petitions demanding immediate Haredi conscription in front of a nine-justice panel is scheduled for Sunday morning.