High Court dramatic order: immediately stops budgets for yeshivas who's students do not enlist

P.M Netanyahu asked in an unusual letter to the judges to refrain from deciding for 30 days, the ombudsman called for a "short adjustment period" - but the High Court made a clear and dramatic decision: there will be no budgets for meetings for students who received a conscription order and did not enlist. According to the interim order issued by judges Uzi Fogelman, Yitzhak Amit and Noam Solberg, the ban on this funding will come into effect on April 1, this coming Monday, when the government temporary order that allowed the recruitment of yeshiva students to be postponed will expire - despite the expiration of the conscription exemption law The previous one was in July last year.
The funding, according to the order, will continue for students who are not "within the scope of the order", until the end of the current school year. The judges determined that next May a hearing will be held, in an expanded composition of nine judges, regarding the question of whether to make the temporary interim order absolute. The debate will be held as part of petitions demanding the enforcement of the recruitment of yeshiva students and to exclude budgets from institutions whose students do not enlist.
The judges also wrote that the petitioners' claims against the legality of the temporary order that allowed the yeshiva to be avoided are "weighty", and authorized the state to submit a "supplementary affidavit" by the end of April, in addition to the answer it submitted this evening. The petitions to the High Court were submitted by a number of petitioners, including the "Ayalon Forum for Human Rights, Social Rights and Egalitarianism" through lawyer Moshe Shapira; the Movement for the Quality of Government; as well as the protest organizations "Brothers in Arms" and "Mothers in the Front". The second organization is represented by the lawyer Dafna Holtz for violin.
As mentioned, this is a very dramatic order, which affects masses of Yeshiva students from the age of 18 to 26 - the age at which, after the service deferrals they received every year, based on the "Torah and Art" section of the previous law, the final exemption from military service was received. The decision includes all those who did not enlist and all those whose service was refused, but who have not yet received a final exemption (at the age of 26) - as long as the exemption is only due to being yeshiva students and they do not have an exemption for another reason.
According to the decree, the state must not transfer funds for the purpose of supporting Torah institutions, "for students of Torah institutions who did not receive an exemption or deferment from military service (by virtue of the arrangement that was established in Chapter C1 of the Security Service Law) and did not show up for conscription since July 1, 2023 by virtue of the government's decision "; This was also determined in relation to "students of Torah institutions whose service postponement by virtue of the aforementioned Chapter 31 has expired and they have not reported for conscription since July 1, 2023 by virtue of the government's decision".
The judges clarify that the order was issued in view of "the position of the legal adviser to the government regarding the illegality of the transfer of support funds after this date, and in the absence of an apparent source of authority for the continuation of the budgeting, we did not consider ordering a transition order." Their order was published a few hours after the state's response to the petitions was submitted this evening, considerably late. In the same response, the ombudsman asked to allow a "temporary adjustment period", for a short time only, during which it would be possible to continue transferring budgets to meetings.
It seems that the judges did not consent to this, but in the order they published it was stated as stated that budgets can continue to be transferred to the meetings - only for students who are not included in the interim order. "Institutions whose interim order will affect their compliance with the threshold conditions for actually receiving support funds, will continue to receive support funds for students who do not fall within the scope of the order, and this until the end of the current school year which will end on Thursday, 9 August 2024," the order reads.
As mentioned, the dramatic order of the High Court is much more severe than the position of the ombudsman, and in fact also rejects the special request of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - who this evening sent a special letter to the judges in which he asked them to refrain from making a final decision on the issue for a month, in order to allow final agreements to be reached in coalition talks on Agreed outline.
The decree is now causing a political upheaval, and officials in the political system estimate that the chances of elections already this year are increasing tonight. The order is received with great shock among the ultra-Orthodox factions, who are holding consultations this evening on how to proceed. Netanyahu also holds telephone consultations with the ultra-orthodox parties. With the fear in the background of the coalition that the ultra-orthodox factions might withdraw due to the decision, those around the prime minister tried to reassure and said: "None of the partners have anywhere to go. Nothing good awaits any of the political players out there."
Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri was quick to respond to the High Court's order and attacked: "The interim order given by the High Court to immediately deny the yeshiva budgets is a sign of dismay and an unprecedented insolence by Torah scholars in the Jewish state. Precisely in the days when the people of Israel need the mercy of heaven in the south and in the north, the High Court of Justice leads an offensive attitude towards the Torah scholars on whom the world stands. Shas will continue to fight for the right of yeshiva students
  Study the Torah and examine its steps."
Later, in an interview with Kol Hai radio, Deri claimed that "it is clear that the goal is to overthrow the government", but did not attribute this accusation to the judges themselves. Regarding the possibility of withdrawing from the coalition, he said: "We will consult with the rabbis on whether to continue sitting in the government. It is not certain that those who harass us will be given the gift of dissolving the government." According to him, "I understand the fighters who do not want to serve now in the army of a country that is fighting in the world of yeshiva. What will happen now is that ultra-Orthodox who did go to the army and also started enlisting, now see the war in the world of the Torah, and they will say: If that's the case - I'm not going to the army ".
The chairman of Torah Judaism and Minister of Construction and Housing Yitzhak Goldknopf also sharply attacked the High Court: "The order issued by the judges of the High Court, the purpose of which is to seriously harm the Torah and Lumidiya, here in the Land of Israel - the state of the Jewish people, is a sign of disgrace and disgrace. The State of Israel arose to be a home for the Jewish people whose teachings are true teachings, and there is no power in the world that can do it. Without the Torah, we have no right to exist. We will fight in every way for the right of every Jew to learn Torah and we will not compromise on that." The "Degal HaTorah" faction, headed by MK Moshe Gafni, also attacked the ruling and said: "We will ask the elders of the Torah how to behave politically in light of the obvious damage to my studies The Torah and the entire ultra-orthodox public."
Minister Benny Gantz also responded to the dramatic ruling, saying: "The issue is not the High Court of Justice or the prosecutor who does her job faithfully - but our need for soldiers during a difficult war, and the need of our society for everyone to take part in the right to serve the state.