The Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of failing to comply with a court order directing it to draw up sanctions against ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers. The charge comes 52 days after a deadline set by the High Court of Justice to present a plan for enforcement against yeshiva students who refuse to comply with IDF conscription orders.

“The government has not formulated a plan to deny personal economic benefits to draft evaders, even though personal and economic sanctions against draft evaders from the ultra-Orthodox community have proven effective,” Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement, asserting that the government’s lack of action contravenes “the High Court of Justice’s ruling and harms the needs of the army and [the value of] equality of the service.”

In November, the court ordered the government to draw up effective enforcement measures, including criminal proceedings, against ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who have refused to comply with IDF conscription orders within 45 days.

In early January, after the deadline passed, the court ordered the government to respond within a week to a request for a contempt of court order against it for failing to draw up a concrete strategy. Several days later, Baharav-Miara filed a position paper with the court warning that the government’s refusal to abide by the order represented “a real danger to Israel’s democracy.”

The refusal, she claimed at the time, meant the government was ignoring the principle of judicial review, thereby fatally undermining one of the branches of government.

For the past two years, the Haredi leadership has pushed for a law keeping its constituency out of the IDF, after the High Court ruled longstanding exemptions illegal. A government-backed bill dealing with the issue, which would ostensibly increase enlistment while exempting yeshiva students from conscription, has been dismissed by critics as ineffective and full of loopholes.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. During the course of the war in Gaza, the IDF repeatedly told lawmakers that it lacked 12,000 troops due to the strain of the conflict and other military challenges. Despite that conflict being halted, the military maintains that it is still short of regular service troops.

Efforts to conscript Haredim have led to widespread protests and even violence against IDF personnel.

‘Still far from meeting the needs of the army’

In its latest filing to the High Court, submitted on Tuesday, the Attorney General’s Office noted that while “significant efforts” by the IDF have led to a 20 percent increase in Haredi enlistment in the first third of 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, this is “still far from meeting the needs of the army” — with only 3,040 out of 53,741 Haredim who received draft orders in 2025 actually completing the recruitment process.

It further stated that 76,013 Israelis have either been designated as evaders or have received an order known as Tzav 12, which means they are barred from leaving the country and can be arrested during any encounter with the police. Eighty percent of these evaders are members of the ultra-Orthodox community.

In order to increase recruitment numbers, the government must “formulate without delay an effective enforcement policy that will lead to the maximum use of economic tools and sanctions, including the denial of personal-economic benefits,” the Attorney General’s Office continued, arguing that the draft exemption bill currently being advanced in the Knesset constitutes “a negative incentive for conscription” which hampers enforcement efforts.

The Attorney General’s recommendations were in line with proposed solutions raised during a recent meeting with senior officials from the IDF, Finance Ministry, and Israel Police. These include the denial of property tax and public transit discounts and rental assistance, among other sanctions.

In a document summarizing the meeting dated last week, the Attorney General’s Office criticized law enforcement’s approach to dealing with draft dodgers, calling it “inconsistent with the duties of all relevant state bodies to enforce the law.”

The army has complained that the police have withheld cooperation with Military Police troops tasked with arresting evaders and have even released draft dodgers detained in random arrests. According to the Attorney General’s Office, the police believe that enforcement actions will lead to the outbreak of “large-scale riots.”

The government response

In a separate court filing, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs slammed Baharav-Miara, asserting that she had “chosen to represent the petitioners’ position and not defend the government’s position” and had declined to “advise the government on how to formulate its policy” or “assist the ministerial team in formulating its recommendations.”

In January, Netanyahu appointed Fuchs to chair a special team to draw up a list of recommendations for steps, including sanctions, that can be taken to increase enlistment across the board and not just among members of the ultra-Orthodox community.

In his filing, Fuchs contended that despite Baharav-Miara’s assertions, there are currently no enforcement tools sitting “on the shelf” unused, emphasizing that the government is pursuing a solution “in a responsible manner.”

Economic sanctions are, if and of themselves, insufficient and, unless paired with conscription legislation and other efforts, “will not lead to a significant increase in recruitment rates,” he said.

Responding to Baharav-Miara’s repeated calls for sanctions on Monday, Deputy Minister Yisrael Eichler called on members of his ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party to “take drastic steps to shock the entire world” in order to prevent sanctions.

“No one would dare suggest applying draconian racism against the families of criminals,” but the “regime of terror” is using such an approach to “eliminate Torah scholars and has turned them into criminals more dangerous than murderers,” Eichler argued.

Following Baharav-Miara’s filing, the Israel Hofsheet (Be Free Israel) religious freedom advocacy group, one of the parties to the case, released a statement asserting that the government’s “overarching goal” appeared to be “the defense of draft evaders.”

“Just as we have halted draft evaders’ economic privileges, we will also put an end to the blatant disregard and open cooperation of ministers and the prime minister with those who choose to follow the path of the wicked son in the Passover Haggadah, asking their brothers: ‘What [is] this service to you? To you — and not to him,'” the group pledged.

The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for March 1.

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