The summer recess in the Knesset, and the stalemate of peace talks with the opposition over the legal reform, allow the coalition to prepare the ground for the next challenge – the draft law. Or rather, the law exempting Haredim from conscription.
The government appointed a team to formulate the law, so the goal is to publish a memorandum immediately after Sukkot, and then enact it in the first two months of the winter session. The main challenge is to respond to the ultra-Orthodox demand that the law be immune from its repeal by the High Court of Justice, as has happened in the past.
In protest of the draft law: Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews block Geha Road, 4 arrested // Shimon Baruch
Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs has already promised in an interview with the ultra-Orthodox newspaper "Family" that the law will be granted immunity. How? He still doesn't know. Fuchs quoted President Herzog's "People's Outline," which included a solution in the form of an amendment to Basic Law: The Army, and in fact said that even in the president's outline, the premise was that immunity could be granted to the draft law.
Does Herzog believe, contrary to the Supreme Court justices' position, that the High Court of Justice cannot interfere with Basic Laws, and that would be enough to vaccinate the draft? Probably not. Herzog's outline explicitly states that it is impossible to see each clause separately, but rather the entire proposal as a whole.
Alongside the immunity to the draft law, the outline also included Basic Law: Legislation, which establishes a rigid procedure for enacting Basic Laws, and therefore denies the possibility of the High Court of Justice intervening in them. Prime Minister Netanyahu ruled out the possibility of a sweeping override clause, and also disavowed Basic Law: Torah Study, after the latter caused a storm, so that the leading option is a specific override clause. The discussions have not yet dealt with the judicial apparatus, but this is an idea that came up in the preliminary hearings.
There is no response or explanation for the expected public opposition
While the government is busy bypassing the High Court, it seems that the government bypassed the public long ago.
Large parts of the nation do not understand how it is possible to exempt a young ultra-Orthodox man from military service at the age of 21 or 22 by legislation, while the rest of the public is required to enlist and in certain positions even risk his life for the sake of state security.
Attorney Yossi Fuchs alongside Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Cabinet meeting, photo: Amos Ben-Gershom GPO
Although I am a religious person and believe in the value and importance of Torah study, we live in a Jewish state, but many parts of the population do not believe in the value of study, or at least do not think that it should come at the expense of military service. What does the government answer to that public, about what appears to be a blatant violation of equality?
How does the government explain that, on the one hand, the ultra-Orthodox demand budgets from the state for yeshivas and use government institutions for the needs of the sector, but in the same breath – when it comes to civil obligations – they behave as if the government is the "hack" from which we can only take what is possible?
This time, too, similar to the reform, the coalition leaders state in advance that the move has broad consensus, due to the fact that no one has succeeded in recruiting the ultra-Orthodox by force over the years, but do not provide a response or explanation for the widespread public opposition to the move. Large parts of the Likud also prefer that this legislation never come.
Aryeh Deri (archive). The ultra-Orthodox don't do them a favor when they go out to work - this is a basic expectation of every citizen, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The government is seeking to market capitulation to the discriminatory and unequal demand of the ultra-Orthodox in a new ideological wrapper, arguing that it is impossible to recruit the haredim by force, and therefore it is preferable to lower the age of exemption in order to encourage them to integrate into the labor market.
Defense Ministry Attorney General Itai Ophir, who is also responsible for drafting the draft law, said in a discussion with Netanyahu two weeks ago: "We need to talk about Haredi employment targets instead of Haredi recruitment targets." They try to reduce the violation of equality by providing benefits to those who serve.
Political constraint rather than cause for celebration
This week they celebrated the figure according to which the employment rate of Haredi men has risen significantly to 56%. The absurdity is that this is cause for celebration.
Haredi demonstration against the draft law in Jerusalem, May 2023, photo: Lior Mizrahi
There is no doubt that integrating Haredim into the economy is an important interest of the Israeli economy, but the Haredim are not doing them a favor by going out to work – this is a basic expectation of every citizen that also helps his personal well-being. Why should a Haredi who goes out to work in his late 20s, and whose Torah is not his art, receive an exemption from conscription or civil service that suits his lifestyle? No reason.
Religious Zionism and the Likud also know that the only reason is political coalition constraint in the face of ultra-Orthodox threats to dissolve the government. Instead of ignoring public criticism and trying to sell the issue in a different ideological shell, the coalition leaders should stand before the public and admit: This is a constraint, there is a moral problem here, but this is the least bad solution we have found.
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