Attorney Tomer Naor: ” Evasion must not be turned into a constitutional value. The Knesset abused its constituent power to write an exemption from conscription into the Basic Laws of the State of Israel, and the court must stop it now”
The Movement for Quality Government has now petitioned the High Court of Justice demanding that the Basic Law on Torah Study be annulled, which was approved by the Knesset in second and third readings. Alongside the demand to annul the law, the Movement is asking the court for an interim order to freeze its entry into force until the petition is decided, as well as for an urgent hearing.
In the Movement’s position, the Knesset has abused its constituent authority – a Basic Law is supposed to establish a general and timeless constitutional norm, but this law is a particular arrangement that was born in a coalition agreement, preceded by a political deal, and is intended for one purpose – to change the legal status of Yeshiva students in all matters relating to the draft obligation and its enforcement. The legislative history speaks for itself: the proposal lay dormant for three whole years and was revived in legislation only when the sanctions on draft dodgers began to work and in exchange for the support of the Haredi parties in the Prime Minister’s political moves.
The petition emphasizes that this is legislation intended to block the High Court rulings on the issue of equality of service, to subordinate the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty to the new law, to grant the value of Torah study constitutional supremacy, and to establish permanent discrimination between groups. The petition further warns that the law is intentionally built on a vague term without a legal definition, in a way that could mask discrimination against women and non-Orthodox movements, and force state authorities to function as “halakha arbiters” on behalf of the government.
The petition also details the serious flaws in the legislative process: the discussion was transferred from the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee – the authorized and professional committee – to the Knesset Committee, contrary to the position of the Knesset Legal Advisor and in clear deviation from the Knesset Statute; the law was advanced in an expedited process in the last weeks of the term; and key parts of it were deleted at the last minute, without a real discussion of the meaning of the final text. The Knesset Legal Advisor determined that these are flaws that “cannot be cured.”
Attorney Tomer Naor, VP of Strategy and Law at the Movement for Quality Government: “For thirty years, the Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that no group has a different value than another, and now they are trying to erase this in a basic law that was enacted in a week, without a discussion, in a political deal, while the fighters and reservists are bearing the burden alone in the third year of the war. A basic law whose sole purpose is to bypass the court and perpetuate evasion is not worthy of constitutional protection and should be repealed.”