Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon says the Interior and Transport ministries are violating a High Court order on sanctions against draft dodgers. He has asked Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs to transfer authority over the municipal tax discount issue to the prime minister, after Interior Ministry Director-General Israel Uzan, a Shas appointee, refused to follow the court ruling. Limon also pressed Transport Minister Miri Regev to speed up a decision on ending public transport discounts for draft dodgers.
The High Court ordered the government in November to prepare a sanctions plan against draft dodgers, and on April 26 it imposed a series of measures that the Treasury described as effective. Since then, the Israel Land Authority Council has decided draft dodgers cannot enter the subsidized housing lottery, and the Labor Ministry said that next school year the daycare subsidy ban will be expanded to include yeshiva students who work, as well as draft dodgers in after-school programs run by the ministry.
The court also ordered the cancellation of draft dodgers’ discounts on municipal taxes and public transport. Limon says the two ministries are trying to evade that order. Uzan replied in a “cunning” letter that ministry professionals believed ending the municipal tax discount could harm the financial stability of local authorities, but Limon says Uzan had no authority to answer because the High Court required a minister-level decision. Following the resignation of Minister Moshe Arbel, there is no new interior minister and no acting minister.
In his letter to Fuchs, Limon wrote that, in order to comply with the court, authority must be urgently transferred to the prime minister or another minister chosen by the government so a decision can be made on removing the municipal tax benefit, noting that a draft government resolution already exists. He warned that keeping the current situation amounts to “a violation of a judicial order.”
On May 26, a joint price committee from the Treasury and Transport Ministry recommended cancelling public transport discounts for draft dodgers. Regev instead ordered staff work rather than issuing instructions, which Limon says does not fit the court’s timetable. He told her that, after the committee found no professional obstacle and the Treasury budget division said the step is one of the effective tools for encouraging military enlistment, she needs a strong reason to avoid it, and he demanded a decision by Wednesday.
