Gov’t accuses state attorneys of failing to seek extension on Haredi conscription enforcement

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs told the High Court of Justice earlier today that the government had sought to request an extension for implementing the court’s order to draw up policies for enforcing ultra-Orthodox military conscription, but that the State Attorney’s Office failed to file the request on time.

In a note to the court appended to the case file today, Fuchs accused Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of ignoring the government’s extension request in her filing to the court, in which she accused the government of violating the court’s order on conscription enforcement, and undermining the judicial branch.

The cabinet secretary accuses the attorney general of “pressing for a clash of the branches of government and a constitutional crisis,” and of “attempting to prevent the government from obtaining an extension for implementing the court ruling.”

He says that he is filing his notice to the court along with supporting emails and documents because the attorney general had not filed the government’s request for an extension.

Fuchs also objects to what he says is the Attorney General’s Office’s attempt to “present the government’s actions as a defiant violation of a judicial order.”

He concludes by repeating that the government was seeking a 45-day extension for implementing the court order to draw up effective policies for enforcing conscription for ultra-Orthodox men.

The government is currently trying to draft and pass a law to reinstate blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, which would then obviate the High Court ruling, although it is facing significant political problems in legislating the bill.

During a ministerial meeting on the issue on January 4, Fuchs noted that the government was working on legislating the bill, although Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon said during the meeting that, regardless of the legislative efforts, the government was nevertheless violating the High Court order by not taking action to draw up conscription enforcement policies.