State tells High Court all eligible Haredi men can be drafted into IDF from 2026

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara files the state’s response to High Court petitions on Haredi military enlistment, stating that there is no limit on the numbers of ultra-Orthodox men recruited into the Israel Defense Forces from mid-2026.

According to a report yesterday, Defense Minister Israel Katz had been delaying the filing of the state’s response because the IDF’s position that Haredi men could be recruited without limit contradicts the position adopted by the government, which is seeking to pass controversial legislation on the issue.

Katz responds to the filing by denying that he had asked for the IDF’s comments on recruitment figures to be removed: “To those who built fantasies and jumped headlong into an empty pool without water – I wish them health and success.”

The government, at the behest of the Haredi Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, is attempting to pass a bill that would see some increased enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men, but would broadly maintain the widescale exemption from military or national service that was struck down in a landmark ruling by the High Court of Justice last June.

Coalition members have often insisted as a way of justifying the legislation that the IDF is not capable of absorbing the estimated 70,000 Haredi males currently eligible for service. IDF officials disagree; however, Kan said Katz nevertheless asked the Justice Ministry several days ago not to include the military’s assessment in the state’s response to the petitions.