Petition to High Court Challenges Denial of Housing Lotteries to Haredi Women: 'A Marriage Penalty, Women Have Become Invisible'

The public struggle is escalating and reaching the High Court of Justice. The law firm Rivka Dagan, on behalf of the organizations "Emet LeYaakov BeYisrael" and "Shmura," filed an urgent and sweeping 352-page petition this morning against the Government of Israel, the Israel Land Council, and the Ministry of Construction and Housing. The petition includes an urgent request for an interim order to stop the closing date for registration for the 11th lottery of "Dira BeHanacha" (scheduled for 22.6.2026), and presents a broad constitutional defense against the new clauses added to the council's decisions. The central argument, a "marriage penalty" and treating the woman as a transparent appendage.

The petition attacks the council's decision to condition a woman's independent eligibility to participate in the discounted housing lotteries on her spouse's military status, if he is defined as a draft evader who has not regularized his status. From the petition's arguments: "Conditioning the woman's eligibility on her spouse's status treats her as an appendage to him, instead of examining her as a subject with independent legal personality. The Women's Equal Rights Law was enacted to uproot the notion that viewed a married woman as an entity subsumed within her husband's personality. The decision creates a clear 'marriage penalty', since if the petitioner were single, divorced, or unmarried, her eligibility would have been approved without difficulty."

The legal comparisons shaking up the case, tax law and demolition of terrorists' homes. The petition draws pointed legal comparisons to other areas of Israeli law, showing that even in more complex and far graver cases, the legal system preserves the principle of personal responsibility and does not impose an automatic "marriage penalty":

Analogy from tax law (the Blank ruling): The petition relies on the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Roy Blank. In tax law, it was established that the "family unit presumption" is not conclusive, and spouses who maintain full property separation are entitled independently to exemptions and tax benefits. The petitioners argue a fortiori, if in property and tax law, where there is a budgetary risk to the state, a woman's right to separation and autonomy is preserved, then all the more so this should be allowed for securing basic housing.

Comparison from an extreme security context (demolition of terrorists' homes). The petition presents a dramatic comparison to Regulation 119. Even in the context of the fight against terrorism, where human lives are at stake, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that a house may not be demolished automatically and that the harm to innocent family members who were not involved in the act must be examined individually. The petition states: "If in the core of security authority balance and proportionality are required toward family members, then all the more so it is unacceptable to impose a sweeping economic sanction on a spouse in a civil social context, because of another person's omission."

Grounds of lack of factual basis and a rushed move against the professional ranks. The petition reveals that the Israel Land Council's decision was made hastily and in a rushed manner, within only 28 days of the operative High Court decision, and תוך complete disregard of written warnings from the professional government ministries: The Ministry of Finance acknowledged in its letters that the sanction is intended to harm household income, without giving weight to the spouse as an independent subject. The Ministry of Economy and Industry warned in advance against using aid as a sanction and against harming third parties. The Ministry of Construction and Housing itself pointed to a substantive legal difficulty and warned that such a denial of eligibility is not expected to withstand judicial review.

The remedies requested from the court: An immediate interim order instructing the state to refrain from applying the discriminatory threshold conditions to women in the 11th lottery, and freezing the registration closing date (22.6.2026). An order nisi instructing the respondents to completely cancel sections 4.7.19 to 4.7.20 of the council's decision book. An alternative remedy requiring an individual review mechanism, allowing a woman to prove independent compliance with the conditions, such as through proof of property separation, instead of automatic disqualification.