Haredi yeshivas with draft dodgers will no longer receive tax-exempt donations, AG says |
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara determined on Wednesday that tax exemptions will be withdrawn from ultra-Orthodox yeshivas whose students fail to obey conscription orders from the military.
In an update to the High Court of Justice on the issue, the attorney general asserted that “the state cannot continue to indirectly finance” religious institutions that enroll men who have failed to report for military service, saying that allowing such institutions to receive tax-free donations would “encourage evasion.”
Baharav-Miara said that the tax authorities need further time to evaluate how to implement her determination, and asked the court to give the Finance Ministry until May 28 to provide an update on its efforts to do so.
The High Court has explicitly ruled that the state must not provide any funds, directly or indirectly, to such institutions, most recently in a decision on Monday in which it ordered government agencies to condition certain welfare benefits on military service as a way of revoking those benefits from ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers.
Haredi politicians lambasted Baharv-Miara in response to her instruction. United Torah Judaism party chair MK Yitzhak Goldknopf stated that she was acting “without restraint in her war against those who study Torah in the Holy Land.”
Fellow UTJ MK Moshe Gafni said the attorney general’s instructions amounted to “a declaration of open war against the Torah world and Judaism in the State of Israel,” and accused Baharav-Miara of obsessive and systematic persecution of the Haredi community and everything that represents the Jewish identity of the state.”
He also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire the attorney general. The government did decide to fire Baharav-Miara back in August 2025, but the High Court annulled her dismissal.
The High Court ruled in November that the government must draw up effective social and economic enforcement measures against ultra-Orthodox men who fail to enlist for compulsory military service within 45 days, but the government failed to do so.
Due to this failure, the court issued specific orders to several government agencies and cabinet ministers to condition five welfare benefits on enlistment to the Israel Defense Forces, in a step that will overwhelmingly impact the tens of thousands of Haredi men who have failed to enlist since a law granting them mass exemptions expired.
Are you relying on The Times of Israel for accurate and timely coverage of the Iran war right now? If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6/month, you will:
Support our independent journalists who are working around the clock under difficult conditions to cover this conflict;
Read ToI with a clear, ads-free experience on our site, apps and emails; and
Gain access to exclusive content shared only with the ToI Community, including weekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you'll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
1 IDF blows up 2 vast Hezbollah attack tunnels built with ‘direct guidance’ from Iran
2 Reporter's notebookNYC Hinds Hall Palestinian eatery has good hummus, wipes Israel off its menu maps
3 Two Jewish men badly wounded in terrorist stabbing attack in London’s Golders Green; assailant arrested
4 Haredi anti-draft rioters break into Military Police chief’s home with family inside; 25 arrested
5 Israeli contractor killed, son wounded by Hezbollah drone in southern Lebanon
6 US intel agencies examining how Iran would react if Trump declares victory in war
7 Trump fires back at Merz after German leader says Iran ‘humiliating’ US over talks
8 UCLA student government censured after condemning event with ex-hostage Omer Shem Tov
High Court of Justice