Israeli Supreme Court Expands Hearing on Yeshiva Students' Arrest Exemption Law to Nine Judges

Israeli Supreme Court President Isaac Amit has ordered that the hearing on petitions challenging the law freezing arrests of yeshiva students be conducted by a nine-judge panel, signaling a strong possibility the law may be struck down. The hearing is scheduled for July 28 and will be led by Deputy President Noam Sohlberg. This follows a temporary injunction issued yesterday by Supreme Court Justice Ofer Groskopf, which suspended the law's implementation and required the state and Knesset to justify why the law should not be annulled.

The petitions were filed by Israel Hofsheet, Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beiteinu, and the Movement for Quality Government. The injunction means that arrests of draft-dodging and absent yeshiva students will continue for now. The Knesset approved the exemption law just days ago, granting yeshiva students a 6.5-month arrest exemption until the end of January. The law was passed alongside the Basic Law on Torah Study as part of a coalition deal involving draft evasion legislation and controversial judicial reforms.

On Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir sent an unusual letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, strongly opposing the law. Zamir warned that the exemption incentivizes draft evasion and undermines trust among soldiers and reservists, stating it is unacceptable for the military to endorse mass exemptions.