Israel's attorney-general urges High Court to cut benefits for 110,000 draft evaders

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara is asking the High Court to consider additional instructions for enforcing Israel’s draft. The proposed approach would let ministries make certain financial benefits conditional on meeting IDF recruitment requirements. The request comes because the government still has not adopted the enforcement policy the court ordered.

The measures could cover property-tax discounts, public transport concessions, education subsidies, and state-assisted housing loans. The state says these would be administrative incentives, not criminal penalties. It also says conditions must apply equally to people called up across the population, while people not currently called for service would keep their eligibility.

The court has not imposed these restrictions through the filing. It must decide whether further orders are needed. The attorney-general also seeks another reporting deadline focused on IDF and police enforcement. Meanwhile, recruitment has increased, but remains far below military needs in numbers, pace, and combat assignments.

The state reported 110,330 people in two categories: those formally classified as draft evaders and those issued orders to enlist despite not completing preliminary recruitment procedures. The figure was current on September 8. It shows the enforcement challenge is exceptionally large, not limited to a small number of individual cases.

Military officials estimated that roughly four-fifths of this total were haredi. Four-fifths of 110,330 is approximately 88,000 people. The article presents that estimate as a broad proportion, not as a precise official count of haredi individuals in each category.

The figure covers people facing evasion classifications or outstanding enlistment orders, not confirmed new recruits. It also does not mean all 110,330 people were arrested. The update reports limited individual arrests and border-crossing enforcement, while no planned coordinated operations took place between July 1 and October 12.

Making benefits conditional means ministries would use administrative decisions to connect eligibility for public assistance with compliance with IDF recruitment requirements. The state presents this as an incentive to encourage enlistment, rather than as a criminal penalty. The proposal matters because it could affect everyday household costs and access to public programs.

Examples include property-tax discounts, public transport concessions, Education Ministry subsidies for after-school and holiday programs, and state-assisted housing loans. Professional assessments on property-tax and transport measures were completed, but ministerial decisions were still missing. The state says conditions would apply equally to people called up across the population.

The restrictions are proposed, not already imposed by the filing. The Education Ministry’s director-general sought to delay changes to the Nitzanim programs until the next school year. The reason given was implementation difficulty across hundreds of local authorities and hundreds of thousands of children.

If the proposed restrictions were adopted, people who fail to meet recruitment obligations could lose or be denied selected financial benefits. That could raise household costs through the loss of property-tax or transport discounts. It could also limit access to housing loans or reduce support connected with children’s after-school and holiday programs.

Families might therefore feel the effects even when the recruitment obligation concerns one household member. Public services would also need to check eligibility and apply the rules across many applicants. The Education Ministry’s director-general warned that changing the Nitzanim programs quickly would be unworkable across hundreds of local authorities and hundreds of thousands of children.

The article does not establish the final scale of these consequences. The proposed restrictions are intended as enlistment incentives, and the filing seeks further judicial instructions rather than imposing them. The court and ministers still have to determine whether, when, and how the measures will operate.

The attorney-general, Gali Baharav-Miara, represents the state’s legal position and is urging the High Court to consider stronger directions. She argues that ministers have not used powers already available. The government is responsible for adopting an effective, equal, and proportionate enforcement policy and making the ministerial decisions needed for benefit conditions.

The High Court sets legal requirements and can issue further instructions. In November 2025, it ordered a policy within 45 days, including economic measures alongside criminal enforcement. The IDF is responsible for recruitment and military-police enforcement. Israel Police also participates in arrest operations, but the two agencies disputed how many soldiers were needed.

The latest filing does not itself impose restrictions. The government still had not adopted the ordered policy by the January 4 deadline. The update also reported no planned joint enforcement operations from July 1 to October 12, showing that decisions, coordination, and implementation remain unresolved.

Haredi is a term for ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. They generally organize much of daily life around strict religious observance, religious study, and communal institutions. The article identifies haredi people as a central group in the draft-enforcement proceedings, but it does not provide a full history of their relationship with military service.

The reported disparity is striking: military officials estimated that roughly four-fifths of the 110,330 people classified as evaders or ordered to enlist were haredi. The article links the proceedings specifically to enforcement among haredi men. It also reports that haredi enlistment rose to about 4,298 in the year ending June 2026.

The broader explanation for disproportionate representation comes from established background outside this article: long-standing arrangements and exemptions connected with religious study have limited enlistment among many haredi men. The filing seeks rules that apply equally to people called up across the population, while preserving eligibility for groups not currently called.

Mandatory military service means that people who are called up must complete recruitment procedures and report for service unless they fall within an applicable non-called group. In this dispute, failing to complete preliminary procedures can lead to an enlistment order, while failure to comply can result in a draft-evasion classification. The system therefore depends on both rules and enforcement.

Military manpower is central because the state says recruitment remains far below the army’s needs. Enforcement can include criminal measures, arrests, and proposed economic incentives. The IDF and Israel Police planned coordinated arrest operations, but disagreements over personnel prevented planned operations between July 1 and October 12.

Equal treatment is also important. The court ordered an effective, equal, and proportionate policy, and the state says benefit conditions must apply equally to people called up across the population. The article shows the tension clearly: haredi enlistment rose, yet remained insufficient in number, pace, and combat assignments.