As deadline passes, High Court orders government to explain within a week why it’s not enforcing Haredi draft orders

The High Court of Justice orders the government to respond within a week to a request for a contempt of court order against the government for failing to draw up a concrete strategy for enforcing military service obligations for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

On November 19, the High Court unanimously ordered the government to draw up within 45 days effective enforcement measures, including criminal proceedings and economic and social sanctions, against ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who have refused to comply with IDF conscription orders.

In a withering written opinion excoriating the ultra-Orthodox community for largely failing to enlist, Sohlberg writes that “the time for action” has arrived, and that failure to enforce the law could undermine the rule of law in general and negatively impact the motivation of the rest of the Israeli public to enlist in the IDF.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which filed the request for a contempt of court order, has argued that the government has failed to take any steps to begin drawing up the kind of economic and social sanctions the court and professionals in the IDF have said would be effective and increase compliance with conscription orders.

The organization argues that the attorney general has twice requested that the government address the issue since the November 19 decision, but that the dedicated ministerial committee for the matter has not convened to discuss it.

The Movement for Quality Government filed its request for a contempt of court order yesterday, the day the court’s 45-day deadline expired, stating that failure to enforce the original court order posed a danger to the rule of law in Israel and its democratic regime.

“This is blatant disobedience to the court’s order, which is the culmination of almost three decades of government foot-dragging on the issue of equal enlistment,” says the organization’s head Eliad Shraga.

“The rule of law does not pass over anyone, including state authorities… If the contempt of court continues, we will demand that the court impose the penalties prescribed by law, including financial sanctions and imprisonment.”

In June 2024, the High Court ruled that ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students were obligated to enlist since there was no longer any legal framework for the military service exemptions they had long enjoyed.

Although enlistment orders have been issued to tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men since then, just 2.3% of those currently required to enlist have done so.