IDF recruitment goals of haredim are not being met, and the government is legally required to take action to increase enforcement of a High Court ruling from June 2024 that officially ended the legal basis for the haredi exemption, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara wrote to Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday.
The A-G wrote that her letter came following a meeting Monday to track the implementation of the ruling. The meeting was the fifth of its kind since the ruling.
Baharav-Miara cited security officials as saying that during the Israel-Hamas war, “a significant increase in the regular order of battle is required and that the enlistment of members of the ultra-Orthodox community is a vital security necessity.”
“The recruitment figures for the current year, as reported, fall far short of the military’s needs, the targets set and presented to the High Court of Justice,” the statement added.
'Necessary condition for filing ranks of military'
“According to the position of all professional and legal authorities, strengthening personal enforcement measures – including revoking benefits for draft evaders and expanding the range of administrative and economic sanctions against individuals – is a necessary condition for filling the ranks of the military,” the A-G further noted.
She also mentioned a decision by the government on Sunday to enable the call-up of up to 400,000 reservists if Israel returns to war in Gaza, arguing that this exacerbated the inequality between those who are required to spend prolonged periods of time in reserve duty and those who do not.
Likud MK Dan Illouz said in response, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day – and the attorney general is an especially broken clock. Activist, political, and intervenes in almost every decision of the elected government. But this time, there is a miracle – and she is right.”
“The number of conscripts from the haredi public remains too low. The public that bears on its back all of our security cannot wait forever. A solution is necessary,” he added.
However, the A-G’s “aggressive intervention” was making it harder to advance a “true solution,” Illouz said. He claimed that it was “not a coincidence” that her letter came “a moment after the political crisis over the conscription and the budget is beginning to calm.” Still, the coalition should not ignore her, since the issue was “greater than her,” he said.
The Yisrael Hofsheet NGO said in response to the A-G’s letter, “The Attorney General clarifies what should be obvious to anyone who prioritizes the Israeli public over narrow political interests: Equitable enforcement and economic consequences for draft evaders are the only way to push haredi enlistment and ease the burden shouldered by reservists, desperately calling for relief.”
“Israel Katz was chosen for his position to serve as the ‘Minister of Evasion,’ but it is time for him to remember that his role is to safeguard the security of the state, not the security of coalition partners,” it added.