High Court sets July 28 hearing on law banning arrests of Haredi draft dodgers

The High Court of Justice sets July 28 as the date for a hearing over petitions against the law passed in Knesset on Tuesday halting arrests for Haredi draft dodgers.

Implementation of the highly contentious law was frozen by the court yesterday as it said it was preparing to review it.

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit determines that the petitions will be heard by a large panel of nine justices, which the court uses only for deliberating extremely weighty issues.

Amit himself is not on the panel, which will be headed instead by Deputy President Noam Sohlberg.

Sohlberg headed a judicial panel on petitions against the government’s failure to enforce ultra-Orthodox conscription last year, and wrote a fiercely worded ruling against the government and the refusal of the Haredi community to enlist. The ruling was issued unanimously by all five justices on the panel.

The new legislation bans arrests, investigations and enforcement measures against draft dodgers enrolled in yeshiva study until November 30, but will actually extend to February 2027 due to legal reasons tied to the upcoming elections.

Critics say that beyond encouraging draft-dodging, the law is discriminatory, for preventing arrests of draft-dodgers from only one part of the population while enabling the continued arrests of all others.