Legal Advisor to Government Criticizes Enforcement Against Draft Dodgers
Translated & summarized from Globes by baba
Israel's Attorney General informed the High Court of Justice that draft evasion has reached 110,000 individuals, with a significant portion from the Haredi community. She criticized the government for not fully utilizing enforcement tools to revoke financial benefits for draft dodgers. While some measures like daycare subsidy blocks are in place, others like property tax benefit revocation are stalled. The Attorney General requested court intervention to compel ministers to act, citing unequal enforcement against other sectors.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- 110,000 Israelis are evading military conscription, a significant increase, the Attorney General told the High Court.
- The Attorney General criticized the government for failing to fully enforce measures against draft dodgers.
- A majority of draft dodgers are from the Haredi community, whose conscription has been deferred.
- The state has not yet revoked property tax benefits for draft dodgers due to government inaction.
- Daycare subsidies have been blocked for 730 applicants whose parents are draft dodgers since August 2026.
Israel's Attorney General has informed the High Court of Justice (Bagatz) that draft evasion has escalated to encompass 110,000 individuals who are violating the law by not enlisting in the IDF. Approximately 60% of these individuals are from the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community, whose conscription has been previously deferred or frozen. An additional 21% are estimated to be from the Haredi public.
The Attorney General argued that "the state is not exhausting its enforcement tools" and suggested that the court consider issuing additional operational directives to revoke financial benefits for draft dodgers, building upon a previous High Court ruling on the matter. Official figures for 2024-2025 show that out of 79,835 conscription notices sent to two age cohorts, only 11,283 reported for duty, and 4,026 were deferred. In contrast, 48,278 were declared draft dodgers, and 18,952 are in an intermediate "Order 12" status, where a final conscription order has been received but the individual is not yet officially declared a dodger.
While there was a partial increase in Haredi enlistment for the 2025 draft year, with 4,298 individuals enlisting (a 65% rise from the previous year), the state acknowledges this figure remains far from meeting the army's needs and the principle of equality. The Attorney General's statement detailed steps taken to date to revoke financial benefits for draft dodgers, alongside measures that have not yet progressed. The revocation of property tax (arnona) benefits has been stalled because the government has not advanced it, requiring a government decision to transfer authority in the absence of an active Interior Minister. A proposed resolution was not advanced by the cabinet secretary, leaving the issue unresolved.
Regarding subsidies for daycare centers starting August 2026, a threshold condition has been set where applications are blocked if a parent is classified as a draft dodger. As of October 2026, 730 applications have been blocked. Furthermore, ministers have yet to amend orders to revoke public transportation discounts for draft dodgers, despite a recommendation from the Pricing Committee to do so. The Attorney General emphasized that current enforcement efforts are insufficient and requested the court to issue further operational orders to compel government ministers to advance the revocation of economic benefits. The current situation, she stated, "does not align with what is expected of the state in terms of enforcement and constitutes a significant blow to effective enforcement, as a result of unequal enforcement and over-enforcement against other sectors."
