Opposition parties also petition High Court against law banning arrests of draft dodgers

The Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beytenu parties both petition the High Court of Justice against a law banning arrests and prosecution of Haredi draft dodgers, effectively freezing most Haredi enlistment, moments after it passed in the Knesset, accusing the coalition of advancing “mass Haredi draft evasion” while “trampling the principle of equality in bearing the burden.”

The petition filed by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and Yesh Atid members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee argues that “at a time when IDF soldiers and those who serve are carrying the burden, the government is once again spitting in their faces and prioritizing narrow political considerations over the good of the country.”

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman and the party also petition the court, asking it to strike down the law and immediately suspend its implementation. The party argues that the legislation goes beyond regulating the status of yeshiva students and instead grants “criminal immunity” to draft evaders.

“The law freezing the arrest of draft evaders is one of the most disgraceful and reckless laws enacted since the founding of the State of Israel,” Liberman says, accusing it of being fundamentally discriminatory. “If the draft evader is secular or from the Religious Zionist community, he will be arrested and sent to prison. If he is Haredi, the government grants him immunity from arrest.”

The petition comes as United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush says that any High Court decision striking down the law “will have no legal validity,” calling on the army to immediately release detained yeshiva students and on police not to cooperate in arresting them, or comply with High Court rulings.

He warns that “any other course of action will lead to civil rebellion on a scale never before seen” among Israel’s approximately 1.5 million ultra-Orthodox Jews.