From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
AG tells court government failing to sanction ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has failed to comply with a ruling directing it to draw up sanctions against ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers despite the IDF’s ongoing manpower shortage, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells the High Court of Justice.
“The government has not formulated a plan to deny personal economic benefits to draft evaders, even though personal and economic sanctions against draft evaders from the ultra-Orthodox community have proven effective,” Baharav-Miara says in a statement released by the Attorney General’s Office.
She asserts that the government’s lack of action contravenes “the High Court of Justice’s ruling, harms the needs of the army and equality of the service burden.”
Last November, the court ordered the government to draw up effective enforcement measures, including criminal proceedings, against ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who have refused to comply with IDF conscription orders within 45 days.
In early January, after the deadline passed, the court ordered the government to respond within a week to a request for a contempt of court order against it for failing to draw up a concrete strategy. Several days later, Baharav-Miara filed a position paper with the court warning that the government’s refusal to abide by the order represented “a real danger to Israel’s democracy.”
The refusal, she claimed, meant the government was ignoring the principle of judicial review, thereby fatally undermining one of the branches of government.
The Times of Israel Community.