Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara has asked the High Court of Justice to strike down a law suspending enforcement against ultra-Orthodox (haredi) yeshiva students who fail to report for military service, arguing that it leaves their duty to enlist intact while removing the consequences of refusing.
In a Friday response, the Attorney-General’s Office described the amendment as a discriminatory “group immunity mechanism” that protects one sector from arrest, investigation and prosecution while leaving other draft evaders exposed to the force of the law.
“The law has no legal future,” the state concluded.
The law passed the Knesset on July 14. Justice Ofer Grosskopf froze it the following day and ordered the state and Knesset to explain why it should not be struck down. Five petitions will be heard by an expanded nine-justice panel.
Baharav-Miara’s argument rests on a simple distinction: The amendment does not formally exempt yeshiva students from military service, but prevents the state from enforcing that obligation against those covered by it.
Draft orders remain valid, and qualifying students do not receive lawful exemptions or deferments. However, those who declare that they meet the law’s Torah-study requirements are protected from arrest, investigation, prosecution and other proceedings.
Previous haredi enlistment frameworks were struck down partly because they relied on voluntary cooperation and lacked meaningful sanctions. This amendment goes further, the state argued, because it removes existing enforcement tools without replacing them with enlistment targets, economic incentives or another mechanism intended to increase enlistment.
The response said the law creates two forms of discrimination.
The first concerns the burden of military service. By blocking enforcement against one group, the amendment limits the state’s ability to recruit additional soldiers from that population, leaving conscripts and reservists to carry a heavier wartime burden.
The second concerns equality before the law. A member of the general public who ignores repeated draft orders remains exposed to arrest, investigation, and criminal proceedings. Someone accused of the same conduct who qualifies under the amendment receives protection from those measures.
The government has argued that arrests and criminal sanctions will not produce meaningful haredi enlistment, and that lasting change requires legislation reached with the community and military frameworks adapted to haredi needs. Aggressive enforcement, it says, could deepen distrust and drive potential recruits away.
Baharav-Miara did not claim enforcement alone would solve the problem. The response recognized the need for adapted service tracks, outreach and arrangements allowing haredi soldiers to maintain their way of life.
Individual consequences, including arrest and restrictions on leaving the country, are one part of a broader enlistment policy, the state said. Military officials have told the court and Knesset that such measures encourage some draft evaders to come forward and regularize their status.
The IDF has also expanded haredi service options, including the Hashmonaim Brigade, technology tracks and Border Police programs. Legal and military officials have nevertheless said those efforts must be accompanied by effective enforcement against those who refuse to report.
The Attorney-General’s Office previously asked the government to present an immediate enforcement plan, noting that many measures could be adopted without new legislation. According to the response, those requests went unanswered.
Ruling could cause 'deep rupture' within public
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that protection from enforcement would create a clear incentive not to report and undermine efforts to increase haredi enlistment.
He also objected to requiring the IDF to establish a committee deciding which students qualify for protection. The army, he argued, should not approve immunity while asking soldiers and reservists to make exceptional sacrifices.
Doing so could cause a “deep rupture” with the serving public, damage confidence in the system’s fairness and force the IDF to examine yeshiva attendance, an area outside its expertise.
The law was enacted “out of recognition of the importance of Torah study.”
Baharav-Miara did not dispute that Torah study is a value the Knesset may recognize. Her argument is that the amendment does not regulate or encourage Torah study itself. Its practical effect is to protect yeshiva students from enforcement of an obligation that continues to apply to them.
The question is therefore not whether Torah study is important, the response said, but whether that importance can justify protecting an entire group from the consequences of breaking a law applying to everyone else.
Previous arrangements sought, at least formally, to balance Torah study, increased enlistment and reduced inequality. Amendment 28 abandons that balance because it contains no meaningful mechanism to increase enlistment or ease the burden on serving soldiers.
The recently enacted Basic Law recognizing Torah study as a fundamental value does not automatically make every law passed in its name constitutional, the state added. Recognizing a value does not allow the Knesset to disregard equality and the rule of law.
Supporters called the amendment a temporary bridge until the next Knesset passes a comprehensive draft law. Baharav-Miara rejected that.
Legislative process fundamentally 'defective'
The High Court struck down the previous framework in 2017. It expired in June 2023 without a replacement. In June 2024, the court ruled unanimously that there was no legal basis for treating yeshiva students differently and that the Security Service Law must be enforced equally.
After years of failed legislation, the state said there was no reason to believe suspending enforcement would make the next Knesset act faster. Removing the immediate consequences could instead reduce pressure to reach a permanent solution.
The state also said the legislative process was fundamentally defective.
The proposal began as a broad 2022 government bill intended to regulate haredi enlistment while balancing military service, Torah study and employment. The government revived it through the Knesset’s continuity procedure, allowing debate to resume without beginning again.
But after lengthy committee discussions over a comprehensive framework, the coalition replaced it with a narrower measure focused on suspending enforcement.
The Attorney-General’s Office said the old bill was used as a “legislative skeleton” for a substantially different law that had not undergone the same full process.
Baharav-Miara asked the court to keep the amendment frozen and ultimately declare it void, concluding that “the unconstitutionality inherent in it speaks for itself.”