Israel's top court halts state funding to Orthodox Jewish institutions that defy enlistment

Israeli forces intervene Ultra-orthodox (Haredi) Jewish protesters during a sit-in protest against their conscription into the Israeli armed forces, in Jerusalem on March 18, 2024. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

Israel’s High Court of Justice issued an interim ruling Thursday ordering the government to halt subsidies to Orthodox Jewish private schools known as yeshivas whose students defy the country’s mandatory military service, Anadolu reports.

The legal framework for deferring military service for these students will no longer exist under the new court order after April 1.

According to the Ynet news website, the Israeli army’s spokesperson issued a statement following the court’s decision saying that the army will act “according to the law” when it comes to drafting yeshiva students after April 1.

While Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet and chairman of the National Unity party, welcomed the court’s order, the leader of the United Torah Judaism party, Yitzhak Goldknopf, slammed it, describing it as a war on the Torah.

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