NGO Israel Hofsheet petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday, seeking an interim order to immediately freeze what it describes as an unlawful draft-evasion route for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men through the national-civic service framework.
The petition challenges the state’s continued operation and funding of the haredi national-civic service track under the National-Civic Service Law, arguing that it enables men who are legally obligated to enlist in the IDF to avoid military service without having received a personal exemption or deferment.
The petition asks the court to issue an interim injunction barring the acceptance of new participants into the program and suspending state funding for those currently serving, pending a final ruling on the case.
At the heart of the petition is the claim that the national-civic service track was originally enacted as a complementary arrangement to the now-expired framework governing the deferment of military service for yeshiva students. That legal framework lapsed in July 2023, following a series of High Court rulings finding it unconstitutional due to severe and disproportionate violations of equality.
Despite the expiration of the deferment regime, Israel Hofsheet argued, the government and the Knesset have repeatedly extended the National-Civic Service Law, most recently through a fast-tracked amendment that prolongs its validity until March. This extension, the petition states, was approved in direct opposition to the position of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, who warned that the arrangement lacks a legal foundation and effectively constitutes a “preemptive exemption” from military service for a single sector of the population.
According to the petition, the continued operation of the track creates a stark disparity: haredi men who are subject to conscription are permitted to perform a shorter, less restrictive form of service, often alongside employment or studies, while their non-haredi peers are required to complete full military service with no comparable alternative.
This arrangement, Israel Hofsheet contends, undermines the principle of equal burden-sharing and incentivizes large-scale non-compliance with enlistment orders.
The petition further points to a series of recent court decisions, in which justices emphasized that, since the lapse of the statutory deferment regime, there is no longer any legal basis for distinguishing between yeshiva students and other conscripts. In those rulings, the court ordered the state to enforce enlistment obligations and prohibited the transfer of public funds to institutions supporting individuals who evade service.
Entrenching unlawful status quo
In its request, Israel Hofsheet argued that allowing the program to continue while the petition is pending would entrench an unlawful status quo and frustrate the court’s ability to provide an effective remedy. The group maintains that the balance of convenience favors immediate suspension, given the ongoing harm to equality and the rule of law.
Uri Keidar, executive director of Israel Hofsheet, said that the petition comes as tens of thousands of reservists continue to be called up repeatedly, while the government advances what he described as a “covert extension” of an illegal arrangement benefiting one group alone. “The High Court has already ruled time and again that discriminatory alternatives to military service cannot stand,” Keidar said. “The time for equality has come.”
The state has until January 12 to respond.