The Right to Equality and the Military Draft Deferment for Ultra-Orthodox Jews

Question 1

How is the Israel Defence Forces like a melting pot?

Answer 1

Values they teach is that Israel is the protection of the Jewish people. Vehicle for assimilation. Basis of Zionism is diametrically opposed to Judaism. Culture of war.

Question 2

What is a yeshiva?

Answer 2

A yeshiva is a Jewish seminary for men chiefly devoted to the study of rabbinic literature and the Talmund.

Question 3

Who is subject to the military draft?

Answer 3

Every Israeli citizen or permanent resident of qualified ageis subject to the military draft. Males for 32 months (three years) and females for 28 months (two years).

Question 4

Yeshiva students have traditionally been exempted from implementation of the draft duty following a draft deferment based on a pledge that…

Answer 4

Their sole occupation was the study in Yeshiva.

Question 5

How has Haredi draft deferment changed over the years?

Answer 5

Haredi draft deferment had been based on an arrangement the conditions and scope of which have evolved over time as a result of political considerations.Numbers have increased over the years.

Question 6

Why did Prime Minister David Ben Gurion express misgivings regarding draft deferment for Haredim?

Answer 6

Situation has changed, and yeshiva students have multiplied. Numbers are growing, and now there are thousands. Security depends on us, and it is chiefly a moral question whether it is acceptable that the child of one mother should die for the homeland while the child of another mother sits and learns in all security.

Question 7

How did the draft deferment change in 1977 with the new Likud government and Haredim being included in the coalition?

Answer 7

Ceilings were removed and the requirements to qualify as a yeshiva student are relaxed. This development marks the importance of considering the specificity of the Israeli political system in which small parties hold the balance of power and so can impose their demands on larger parties that need a coalition government.

Question 8

What was an indirect consequence of the pledge made by Haredi men regarding their sole occupation as students at the yeshiva?

Answer 8

The pledge made by Haredi men regarding their sole occupation as students at the yeshiva meant that their non-employment became a precondition to the draft deferment.

Question 9

What implications were there for Haredi men not entering the workforce?

Answer 9

Economic implications — the choice is either to be registered as a student at the yeshiva or enter the military. Not working, not participating in the broader economy. Burden in the sense that the system must provide them with welfare assistance, especially with large families. Special allocations kept in place by power in coalition government.

Question 10

Ressler v Minister of Defence.

Answer 10

The exercise of discretion by the Minstier of Defence to allow exceptions for Haredi men was not unreasonable. There is no social consensus on the issue of whether the deferment of yeshiva students is noble or disgraceful. However, there is ultimate significance to the number of yeshiva students whose service is deferred. There is a limit to which no reasonable Minister of Defence may cross. Quantity makes a qualitative difference.

Question 11

What does s. 36 of the Defence Services Act state?

Answer 11

The Minister of Defence may exempt a person from military service on application.

Question 12

Rubinstein v Minister of Defence.

Answer 12

The draft exemption is on such a large scale that it must be enshrined in legislation. When the consideration is one relating to resolving a sharply disputed general social issue, the matter must be dealt with by a primary arrangement in legislation.

Question 13

Tal Law.

Answer 13

Provided statutory authorization to the Minister of Defence to approve yeshiva students’ draft deferments. Was designed to encourage Haredi men to enlist for military service in theIsrael Defence Forces or for national civil service, while allowing exemptions for those who choose to study Torah full-time instead of serving.

Question 14

True or false? The Tal Law included an element of coercion, threatening criminal sanctions if men chose not to serve in the military.

Answer 14

False.

Question 15

True or false? The Tal Law provided for a “year of determination.”

Answer 15

True.

Question 16

Year of determination.

Answer 16

Yeshiva students who were granted deferment for at least four years and who were 22 or older could be authorized by the Minister of Defence to defer their summons for an additional year without remaining in the yeshiva.

Question 17

What incentive was there for Haredi Jews to participate in government service?

Answer 17

Civil service of at least one year exempts the applicant from full military service (of three years); civil service of at least 21 days in a year exempts the applicant from reserve service for that year.

Question 18

What did the High Court of Justice first decide in 2006 with regards to the Tal Law?

Answer 18

Majority of Justices on the High Court of Justice rule that the Tal Law violates the principle of equality in such a manner as to amount to a violation of the right of the individual to dignity under Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.

Question 19

At what stage of the s. 8 Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty analysis did the Tal Law fail?

Answer 19

Rational connection – it is too early to assess whether special arrangements actually contribute to increasing number of Haredim enlisting in government service.

Question 20

What did the High Court of Justice decide in its second decision in 2012 with regards to the Tal Law?

Answer 20

Struck down the law as statistics demonstrated that the law was not working. No evidence that goals achieved so as to satisfy the rational connection test. The High Court of Justice’s repeated involvement in the subject of the enlistment of Haredi men without any substantial progress on the matter, certainly does nothing to enhance the stature of the High Court of Justice.

Question 21

What happened in the 2013 elections that allowed progress to be made on the Haredi problem?

Answer 21

The Haredi parties were not in the coalition. The Peri Law was enacted in March of 2014.

Question 22

What was the aim of the Peri Law?

Answer 22

To have more teeth than the Tal Law.

Question 23

What were the two phases of the Peri Law?

Answer 23

Period of adaptation and second phase.

Question 24

Period of adaptation in the Peri Law.

Answer 24

No mandatory military service, option for national civil service, Minister of Defence may grant deferral or exemption, such that yeshiva students 22 years old can join the workforce without fear of consequences. Government must set for itself annual targets. Collective model of deferment.

Question 25

Second phase in the Peri Law.

Answer 25

If in any given year the government’s target has not been reached, then military service becomes mandatory at age of 21 with criminal sanctions. No discretion to the Minister of Defence. No mandatory service for those older than 21 years old, can still get deferral and full exemption to join workforce. There is always a deferral granted to 1800 ‘brilliant students.’

Question 26

What happened in the 2015 elections?

Answer 26

Current government was formed and amendments were made to the Peri Law. The period of adaptation was extended until 2020, with a second period of adaption added until 2023. There is no mandatory conscription of the target goal is not reached; rather it is left to the discretion of the Minister of Defence to decide whether to order conscription.

Question 27

Movement for Quality Government v Knesset.

Answer 27

Struck down the Peri Law as option to perform national service instead of military service violates principle of equality, and the discretion granted to the Minister of Defence in the second period of adaptation is far too broad. No coercion and no consequences of target goals are not met.

Question 28

Rubinstein v Knesset.

Answer 28

Failing to impose and enforce a core curriculum does not deprive the rights of individual children to dignity.

Question 29

Ben-Porat v Registrar of Political Parties.

Answer 29

A clause in regulations barring women from running for political parties is not legal.

Question 30

Mehadrin Bus Lines v Public Transportation Ministry.

Answer 30

Gender segregation is illegal. Anybody is free to sit where they see fit on a bus, and cannot be coerced to sit in a certain section of the bus.