Haredi rabbis said weighing halt to draft exemption bill over court concerns

Several senior rabbis affiliated with the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Yisrael faction of the United Torah Judaism party are reportedly weighing calling for a halt to the advancement of the coalition’s bill exempting yeshiva students from military conscription over concerns that it will be struck down by the High Court of Justice.

The Haredi parties have been pushing for such a law, both to regulate the status of yeshiva students and to restore yeshiva funding frozen last year after the court ruled that there was no legal basis for the students’ longstanding draft exemptions.

According to Kan, the rabbis are concerned that an adverse court ruling against the bill would lead to an order permanently freezing funding, implying that they are trying to find an alternative solution that does not involve passing a law unlikely to pass judicial review.

Agudat Yisrael is said to currently be split on the bill, with faction leader Yitzhak Goldknopf opposed to any measure containing sanctions against draft evaders.

The bill has been criticized by the Attorney General’s Office, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee legal adviser, and the IDF as falling short of solving the military’s manpower shortage.