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 them of ignoring the ruling and the police specifically of “giving power to the mob” by deliberately refusing to arrest ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers due to fears of subsequent riots.

Over 79,000 conscription orders have been issued to ultra-Orthodox men since the court ruled in 2024 that they were obligated to enlist, after the law allowing for blanket exemptions expired the previous year.

Since that time, only 2,100 have enlisted, while the police have avoided arresting those who have ignored enlistment orders. Between January 2025 and January 2026, only 17 ultra-Orthodox men were proactively arrested by police for draft evasion.

The court ruled that some welfare benefits — including discounted property purchase programs for first-time buyers — must be available only to those who enlist in the IDF. Two other benefits that the court said must be conditioned on IDF service are children’s daycare subsidies and after-school care subsidies.

The court ordered the Israel Land Council and the Labor Ministry to find a way to condition these benefits on IDF enlistment within 21 days.

It also ordered the transportation minister to determine within 35 days whether public transportation discounts can be conditioned on enlistment, and the interior minister to consider within the same period whether municipal tax discounts can likewise be tied to conscription.

The court ordered the government to provide an update by June 1 on the implementation of these directives.

The five justices who unanimously approved the decision were also scathing in their assessment of the police’s failures and refusal to arrest Haredi draft dodgers, stating explicitly that police are “not acting in accordance with their obligations.”

The attorney representing the police told the court during this month’s hearing that one reason Haredi draft dodgers are not arrested is that activists organize massive riots to thwart such arrests.

“This is unacceptable… the societal message that emerges from the police refraining from acting specifically against those who try to thwart enforcement actions through widespread violations of order… is a message that cannot be accepted,” the justices wrote.

It therefore ordered the government “to act with due diligence and as quickly as possible to engage in criminal proceedings against draft dodgers from among the Haredi public.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid welcomed the decision, declaring that the court had ruled that “draft dodging must end immediately.”

“Netanyahu’s government must decide whether it stands with the Zionists or with the draft dodgers,” he wrote on X.

“There are judges in Jerusalem,” declared The Democrats chief Yair Golan, using a quote attributed to Likud founder Menachem Begin.

“In the next government, we will ensure that the Haredim enlist,” he said. “We will ensure that the [IDF-]serving and tax-paying public does not bear the burden alone, and that the surrender to Haredi political maneuvering ends.”

Ultra-Orthodox politicians slammed the ruling, with United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf calling it a harsh “blow to the heart of the Jewish identity of the State of Israel,” and demanding that Netanyahu take “immediate” action to pass legislation exempting yeshiva students from conscription.

“The State of Israel is gradually losing, step by step, its identity as a Jewish and democratic state,” said UTJ’s MK Moshe Gafni. “From decision to decision, from hearing to hearing and from ruling to ruling, the High Court is acting consistently and systematically to harm Torah students and reduce their place in the state. We will not lend a hand to this.”

Sam Sokol contributed to this report.

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