From the Liveblog of
Sunday, June 2, 2024
High Court justices demand to know why 3,000 Haredi men can’t be conscripted immediately
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Justices give the government’s legal counsel a rough time in the High Court of Justice at the beginning of a critical hearing on conscripting ultra-Orthodox men into the army, pressing him as to why he cannot say whether the government will agree to draft even a small percentage of such men who are eligible for the draft.
Acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman points out that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has said that even though there is no longer a legal framework for the mass exemptions from military service that Haredi yeshiva students have enjoyed until now, the IDF does not need to draft every single one of the approximately 63,000 Haredi men who are now eligible for the draft and instead has said that the conscription could be done gradually — as long as the process actually starts.
Attorney Doron Taubman, serving as an independent lawyer for the government, tries to argue that the government cannot pressure the IDF and Defense Ministry over how to draft Haredi men.
Vogelman retorts by insisting that those agencies needs to take into account High Court rulings, including one from 2017 when it determined that mass military service exemptions are illegal and discriminatory.
Taubman says in response that there are numerous considerations to take into account, including the need for the army to prepare to accept ultra-Orthodox men, who have unique religious lifestyle requirements, as well as the societal effects of drafting such men, and what he says is the limited capacity of the army to accept large numbers of Haredi soldiers.
Justice Noam Sohlberg points to the fact that even in 2017 there was a declared capacity by the IDF to accept 3,000 ultra-Orthodox soldiers.
“Now at a time of war, the army can’t absorb 3,000 soldiers?” Sohlberg questions Taubman.
Justice Yael Wilner then presses Taubman even further, demanding to know if the government supports or opposes the limited conscription of 3,000 ultra-Orthodox men out of the 63,000 who are currently eligible for the draft.
“We have not addressed the conscription of 3,000 men in principle,” is Taubman’s response.
