Israel – Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein on Tuesday notified the High Court of Justice that Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon wishes to push off drafting 608 Haredim into the IDF until at least December.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Originally and as late as July 11, the state told the court that the 608 Haredim were due to be drafted no later than August 8, after their draft date had already been deferred for a full year.
While speculation has been rampant that drafting the Haredim would be further delayed, Tuesday’s statement was the first official confirmation that the state may defer drafting the current group of draft-able Haredim indefinitely to the point where they could all be exempt.
The state’s declaration came as a result of petitions to the High Court calling for the immediate drafting of the approximately 40,000 yeshiva students who are no longer legally exempted from military service.
The so-called “Tal Law,” which was enacted in 2002, allowed full-time yeshiva students to indefinitely postpone their military service. However, following the law’s expiration on July 31, 2012, the only operative law regarding military service for yeshiva students is that which applies to all other Jewish Israelis, the Law for the Security Services 1986, which stipulates mandatory army service for everyone of the appropriate age.
Activist groups have previously noted that, in effect, any deferral of the draft date by the state past August 8 would mean that the yeshiva students who received conscription orders would be able to avoid service altogether.
This is because anyone aged 18 and over on the day the new legislation currently being devised for haredi enlistment is passed will be able to ultimately gain a full exemption under the terms of the new law, since mandatory enlistment will only be implemented under that law in 2017.
The state explained that Yaalon had ordered that deferral letters be mailed to the Haredim on August 6 absent any court order to the contrary.
At the same time, the state said that it had delayed an immediate mailing of the letters to give the court time to intervene should it choose to.
Weinstein explained the state’s decision in light of the fact that the Knesset was in advanced stages of passing legislation which fully resolve the issue of drafting Haredim going forward.
He noted that the Knesset had already passed legislation based on the Peri Committee recommendations and that four special-session parliamentary meetings were scheduled for the Knesset recess which begins on August 5, to expedite passing the new bill fully into law.
The state also said that the expected legislation would push off drafting the current round of Haredim until by a few years, such that a delay until in December of this year was essentially meaningless.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post