A-G to Netanyahu: Gov’t must enforce draft repercussions against evaders post-High Court ruling

A-G Baharav-Miara informs Netanyahu that the government must implement criminal and economic sanctions against draft evaders within 45 days.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara formally notified Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that the government is now legally obligated to take concrete enforcement measures against draft evaders, following last week’s landmark High Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s conscription law.

In the Tuesday letter, the attorney-general underscored that the ruling imposes a binding duty on the government to act “swiftly and effectively” to enforce legal measures against individuals defined as draft evaders, particularly within the ultra-Orthodox (haredi) sector.

Baharav-Miara said, “Following the draft ruling, the government is obliged to act againstdraft evaders.”

Five days earlier, on Thursday, the court issued a final, absolute order requiring the government to devise and implement an enforcement policy within 45 days. The ruling mandates a dual mechanism of criminal enforcement and civil-economic sanctions, such as the removal of state benefits or subsidies from individuals avoiding compulsory service.

According to the judgment, the state’s conduct in recent years amounted to a near-complete abandonment of its duty to enforce the law.

Baharav-Miara pressures government on the draft law

In the letter sent to the prime minister, Baharav-Miara emphasized that the court’s ruling leaves no room for political discretion. “The government must act to implement the judgment,” she wrote, stressing that ministries cannot delay enforcement on the grounds that new draft legislation has not yet been enacted.

She further noted that the state’s earlier claim – that it could not enforce the law in the absence of a new statutory arrangement – had been explicitly rejected by the justices.

The backdrop to the ruling is Israel’s severe manpower shortages since the October 7 war, which have intensified scrutiny over haredi exemptions. The decision represents one of the most forceful judicial interventions on the issue in more than a decade, signaling that state benefits can no longer coexist with a policy of non-enforcement.

The ruling requires the government to shift from theoretical commitments to measurable compliance and does so under a rigid timetable that the court expects the state to meet. The A-G’s message places the responsibility squarely on the government to determine the contours of enforcement.

Questions remain – whether criminal indictments will be initiated, whether sanctions will include the suspension of stipends or state assistance, and whether enforcement will target only those who ignored draft orders or apply more broadly – but the government has yet to announce any concrete steps.

Enforcement, even if limited, is expected to face resistance from the haredi parties central to Netanyahu’s coalition.

Yet the A-G made clear that the government no longer has legal latitude to delay.