United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni on Tuesday called on the government to disobey potential High Court of Justice rulings amid ongoing efforts to pass a draft exemption law for yeshiva students, joining several coalition lawmakers who have called to defy the High Court.

Asked in an interview with the ultra-Orthodox Kol Barama radio whether the government should comply with a potential High Court ruling to strike down the draft-exemption law, should it pass, Gafni replied: “No. Don’t obey them.”

“[The justices] make decisions that, in my view, are against the law as I understand it, and this means that a different policy needs to be pursued. If I were in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s place, I would instruct ministers not to honor the rulings,” he declared.

Gafni, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox UTJ’s Degel Hatorah faction, further alleged that justices are trying to impose their views on the Knesset, particularly regarding the ultra-Orthodox population, but in other matters as well.

“Everything that is brought to the Knesset by the government — which represents the majority in the Knesset — they strike down,” Gafni asserted.

Gafni’s ultra-Orthodox UTJ party has threatened to oppose the proposed state budget if legislation isn’t first passed to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment and exemptions to mandatory military service.

While the party quit the coalition over the summer to protest the government’s failure to pass a........

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