High Court grants government extension to legislate ultra-Orthodox conscription

The High Court of Justice extends by a month and a half a deadline for the government to pass legislation regulating the military enlistment of members of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community.

Current regulations on deferring mandatory IDF service were set to expire today, which would have made thousands of ultra-Orthodox seminary students eligible to be drafted.

The month-and-a-half delay is less than the four months the government requested last week.

The government said it needed more time to pass legislation on ultra-Orthodox enlistment after Avigdor Liberman resigned as defense minister and pulled his Yisrael Beytenu party out of the Knesset, leaving the coalition with the minimum majority of 61 out of 120 total Knesset seats.

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, whose Agudat Yisrael party has four seats in the coalition, has said it will not vote in favor of a Defense Ministry-backed bill, making opposition support necessary if the proposed legislation is to become law.

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