In the most contentious coalition step to date to broadly exempt ultra-Orthodox young men from IDF conscription, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Sunday approved a bill for its final readings in Knesset that will have the practical effect of freezing ultra-Orthodox enlistment to the IDF for at least some seven months.

The bill, which is considerably more far-reaching than previous iterations, gives the tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men currently deemed to be draft dodgers immunity from arrest until November 30. Another clause makes the legislation applicable to Haredi men who come of military age after the law comes into effect as well, meaning, they too will be immune to arrest for draft dodging and will have little incentive to enlist after receiving conscription orders.

In addition, the bill freezes criminal proceedings already in place against current Haredi draft dodgers; makes oversight over the granting of immunity to such people practically impossible; and removes the ability to financially punish ultra-Orthodox yeshiva deans and staff who make false declarations regarding the eligibility of their students for arrest immunity.

And although the bill states that it will expire on November 30, Basic Law: The Knesset stipulates that legislation expiring in the first three months of a new Knesset, as this legislation will, remains in force for another three months, meaning the freeze on Haredi enlistment will last at least seven months if the new legislation is passed into law by the Knesset this week.

Before the committee approved the bill, the committee’s legal adviser warned that it would be discriminatory, violating the principle of equality before the law, while the Knesset’s legal adviser stated that the way the bill has been legislated is “illegitimate” after the measure was dramatically changed from the original text of the bill.

“Legislation that exempts in practice a certain population from its obligations under the law… does not withstand constitutional tests, is incompatible with the principle of equality before the law, and amounts to unlawful discrimination,” an opinion paper written by the committee’s legal team stated.

The coalition is aiming to have the legislation passed into law before the Knesset dissolves at the end of this week ahead of elections on October 27. The objections raised by the committee’s legal advisers mean the High Court, whose powers Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is seeking to drastically curtail, would be likely to strike it down.

The coalition has argued that the controversial bill is necessary because, it claims, arrests of Haredi men who have failed to report for conscription after receiving draft orders are causing a reduction in motivation among ultra-Orthodox men to enlist.

And Shas MK Yinon Azoulay asserted during Sunday’s committee hearing that Haredi men not studying in a yeshiva would still be subject to arrest, and that the revocation of some welfare benefits from........

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