Israel High Court Orders Interior Minister to Decide on Tax Breaks for Draft Dodgers

Israel's High Court of Justice has ordered Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar to decide within 30 days whether to revoke property tax (arnona) discounts for individuals who have evaded mandatory military service in the IDF. Sa'ar, who also serves as Foreign Minister, was recently appointed to the Interior Ministry. Concurrently, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Transportation Minister Miri Regev have been given 21 days to rule on the issue of public transportation discounts for the same group. Until the ministers make their decisions, these discounts remain in effect.

This directive comes amid a growing problem of draft evasion, with the Attorney General reporting that over 110,000 individuals eligible for conscription have failed to enlist, the vast majority from the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community. The Attorney General's office stated that the state is not acting with full capacity to combat this phenomenon, and current enforcement efforts are insufficient. The IDF provided data showing that out of over 77,000 draft notices sent to Haredim for 2024-2025, tens of thousands were declared evaders, with only about 3,388 actually enlisting.

The article highlights significant coordination failures between law enforcement agencies. Planned enforcement operations in May and October were canceled due to the police's demand for IDF soldiers to handle public order disturbances, a request the IDF rejected as a police responsibility. This lack of coordination resulted in approximately 192 individuals detained by police being released with only a summons because military police failed to collect them on time. The only notable enforcement success occurred at border crossings during the High Holidays, where 212 draft evaders were apprehended.

In response to enforcement gaps, the state is focusing on civil sanctions, utilizing a digital interface to identify evaders. This has led to the blocking of hundreds of applications for subsidized daycare, the revocation of participation in housing lotteries, and the cancellation of tax benefits for Torah institutions attended by evaders. However, critical measures, such as revoking public transport discounts and arnona breaks, are stalled due to political inaction. The Ministry of Education has also requested to postpone the withdrawal of subsidies for summer programs and daycare until the 2027-2028 school year, citing implementation complexities with local authorities.