Coalition politicians call on police to disobey High Court freeze on Haredi arrest ban

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi calls for the government and the police to ignore the High Court of Justice order freezing implementation of a law banning the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers.

“An order that cancels or ‘suspends’ a law has no legal validity. There is no legal source of authority for such an action. One must not obey lawbreakers,” says Karhi, seemingly denying entirely the authority of the High Court to conduct judicial review on legislation.

“Law enforcement authorities in the State of Israel must obey the law,” he adds, in an apparent call for the police not to conduct arrests of Haredi draft-dodgers in line with the legislation.

MK Meir Porush of the Haredi United Torah Judaism party makes similar comments, saying that the court ruling is “not legal” and adding that “any policeman or soldier who arrests or cooperates with the arrest of Torah students is breaking the law.”

Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri also denounces the court, saying the justices were “drunk with the power of judicial activism.” He also claimed that the law was designed to provide time for “agreement within Israeli society” over ultra-Orthodox enlistment.

Deri and other Haredi political leaders have, however, repeatedly insisted in recent months and years that yeshiva students should not be obligated to perform military service, and have worked to pass legislation to that effect.