AG tells defense minister to enact sanctions on draft-dodging ultra-Orthodox

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Defense Minister Israel Katz he should hold discussions on how to apply sanctions to individual ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who have failed to enlist to the IDF, through a government resolution or administrative order.

The attorney general says that in a Monday meeting, security officials pointed out that enlistment figures for 2024-2025 did not fulfill the IDF’s needs.

The purpose of the meeting was to prepare an update for the High Court of Justice on implementation of the court’s June 2024 ruling that ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students are legally obligated to enlist in the IDF and that the government must begin to draft them.

Officials from the defense establishment, the Finance Ministry, and the Justice Ministry said in that meeting that increasing personal sanctions on draft dodgers, including revoking privileges and increasing administrative and economic sanctions, were critical for boosting enlistment figures.

Baharav-Miara says of the proposals presented, “A substantial proportion of them could be advanced immediately, including just by a government resolution or administrative decision, without the need for legislation.”

She tells Katz, “In this situation, as the minister in charge of the military on behalf of the government, it is necessary for you to hold an urgent hearing on the matter, led by you, to make decisions regarding the needs of the IDF and the targets presented by the state to the High Court.”