The High Court of Justice ordered the government on Sunday to adopt a raft of measures that would punish ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers by denying them various welfare benefits unless they enlist for military service.

The court’s decision included specific orders to several government agencies and cabinet ministers to condition five welfare benefits on enlistment to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), a step that will overwhelmingly impact the tens of thousands of Haredi men who have failed to enlist since a law granting them mass exemptions expired in 2023.

The court also ordered the state to take “actual criminal proceedings” against Haredi draft dodgers, calling the police’s failure to arrest such people “unacceptable” and describing the situation as a “knowing and ongoing mass violation of the law.”

The court said it was issuing the orders because the government had failed to implement the court’s ruling from November 2025 that it must adopt enforcement measures against ultra-Orthodox men who have failed to enlist in the IDF after being sent conscription orders.

“In question is not ‘just’ the fulfillment of the ruling, but the enforcement of the law,” the court emphasized.

“This conduct is in contradiction to fundamental principles regarding the rule of law,” the court insisted.

Opposition leaders lauded the court’s decision, while leaders of the ultra-Orthodox parties denounced it and demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take “immediate” action to pass legislation reinstating blanket military service exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students.

The High Court ruled in November last year that it must draw up effective social and economic enforcement measures against ultra-Orthodox men who fail to enlist for compulsory military service within 45 days, but the government failed to do so.

The justices castigated the government and the police during a hearing on the issue two weeks ago, accusing........

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