Today, the attorney general is expected to deliver the state’s position on two substantial and significant petitions submitted by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and Israel’s Defensive Shield Forum, demanding the immediate recruitment of 63,000 yeshiva students, and demanding the establishment of a state commission of inquiry.
In the ultra-Orthodox draft petition, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and Israel’s Defensive Shield Forum petitioned the Supreme Court with a demand to order the Ministry of Defense and the IDF to immediately recruit all 63,000 draft-eligible yeshiva students according to the Defense Service Law. The petition was submitted following the IDF’s disregard of the Supreme Court ruling of June 25, 2024, which stated that there is no legal basis for avoiding the recruitment of the ultra-Orthodox and that the security establishment must act in accordance with the provisions of the Defense Service Law. The petition claims that the decision not to recruit yeshiva students is a serious violation of the principle of equality, violates the Defense Service Law, and is contrary to previous Supreme Court rulings, including the Rubinstein ruling of 1998 which stated that yeshiva students cannot be exempted from military service without explicit legislation by the Knesset.
In the petition to establish a state commission of inquiry, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and Israel’s Defensive Shield Forum for Israel petitioned the Supreme Court with the demand to compel the government to fulfill its duty and immediately establish a state commission of inquiry to investigate the failures of the 7th October disaster and the Iron Swords war. The petitioners claim that the colossal disaster that occurred on 7 October 2023, in which hundreds of Israelis were murdered and kidnapped in a mass terrorist attack from the Gaza Strip, revealed fundamental failures at all levels – from the political to the military level, and is considered the greatest security-political failure in the history of the country. Therefore, only the establishment of an independent state commission of inquiry will allow for an in-depth, thorough investigation of the failures, while drawing the necessary lessons.
The attorney general’s position and our response to it will be distributed as soon as it is received.
