GIYUS Bnei Hayeshivos: High Court Rules All Charedi men Eligible must be Drafted

The High Court in Israel the Bagatz put out the ruling unanimously that all ultra-Orthodox men eligible for service must be drafted to the IDF. All 60,000 of them at the current state absent a draft law.

The nine-judge panel of the High Court of Justice on Tuesday ordered a full draft of charedim into the IDF and the freezing of all funds for institutions that do not comply starting April 1. Meaning funding to yeshivos and kollelim will stop this August 8 at the end of the current school year.

Practically speaking the Bagatz left it up to the govt and IDF to work out a Giyus law. For this year, the army said it can only absorb the conscription of up to 3000 charedim. Therefore even if there's no giyus law voted on, the government can survive by pushing it off for another year and the funding will continue for another year for the tens of thousands of young men that the army says it cannot accept.

 Despite tough talk of the frum knesset members, none of them threatened to bolt from the coalition and bring down the government.

The blockbuster ruling could lead to new elections or, if not, a change in the political landscape on the issue of haredim in the IDF.

Nine Supreme Court judges unanimously ruled that there is no legal framework that makes it possible for the State to avoid drafting bnei yeshivos and therefore must act in accordance with the provisions of the Security Service Law. in the absence of a legal framework for exempting bnei yeshivos, funds to yeshivos and kollelim for students eligible for the draft cannot be transferred.

Charedi pundits explain, In the situation created after the ruling, it is better for the ultra-Orthodox to pass a conscription law, so they can determine the number of yeshiva members who will be conscripted, according to the IDF's ability to absorb them.

The interesting question is about the funding. After all, if the IDF is prepared to recruit only 3,000 ultra-Orthodox, apparently it will be possible to continue budgeting for the tens of thousands of young men that the army says it cannot accept.

It should be noted that even if the conscription law is not approved in the end, the ultra-Orthodox will be able to live in the coming year with the conscription of 3,000 yeshiva students, and the meaning is that from a political point of view, the crisis regarding conscription seems to have been postponed.

Another potential financial blow is the subsidies to Avreichin for childcare at 1500 shekel per child which would be terminated. Moreover, the Attorney-General has stated that several other budgets for charedim could be stopped as well, including municipal subsidies for poorer families and child care subsidies for families where the male is studying Torah. (Though they could be prevented if the Shas ministers in charge of the Interior Ministry and Labor and Social Affairs Ministry change the criteria for receiving subsidies to refer only to families where the wife works irrespective of the husband’s other activities.)

The ועד הישיבות responds to the ruling:

הישיבות הקדושות שמימיהם של אבותינו לא פרשו מהם ותלמידיהם השוקדים על תלמודם - זהו סוד קיום אומתנו לדורות והינם למגן וצינה לעם היושב בציון. בהיותנו אמונים על דברי חכמינו ז"ל שבשעה שהקול קול יעקב אין הידים ידי עשו, הרי שדוקא בשעה שעת צרה היא ליעקב ראוי היה לחזק את מבצרי התורה - הישיבות הקדושות ולסייעם להשמיע ביתר שאת ועוז את קולו של יעקב. 

מובטחנו בסייעתא דשמיא שקול התורה הנשמע בהיכלות התורה ימשיך בכל עוז כי היא חיינו ונשמת אפינו.

Another point, the court carefully worded the ruling that only yeshiva students who received a deferment in the past will be cut funding,this was to spare all Arabs leftists and other draft dodgers from the ruling. Ironically political commentators point out that yeshiva students associated with peleg yerushalayim who followed the rulings of the leaders not to go and get a deferment, will technically still be eligible for funding.

Rav Dov Landau spoke harshly against the Bagatz yesterday at a fundraising dinner in Manhattan 

"We came from Eretz Yisrael, the situation of the Torah students is terrible and terrible! The reshaim there and the authorities took the budgets that the yeshiva and kollel had, and the yeshiva are in a situation where they have no possibility to continue, some kollels have already closed The yeshiva leaders say they can't continue any longer, and it's all because of the convictions of the authorities there."

This was reported today in the Washington Post lauding the ruling and attacking the charedim.

Israeli Supreme Court rules ultra-Orthodox must serve in the military The decision could result in ultra-Orthodox lawmakers pulling out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and collapsing it. "The ultra-Orthodox, also known as Haredim, are Israel’s fastest-growing minority. They receive government subsidies for privately run schools and religious and social organizations. For years, there has been a movement of lawmakers to cut them off, condemning the systems that allow their quasi-autonomous societies to exist within Israel, all while eschewing taxes (because few work) or military service (because few enlist)."