The High Court of Justice today (Sunday) heard petitions filed to issue contempt of court orders against the government, claiming that it is not implementing the ruling requiring the conscription of yeshiva students.
The expanded panel included Vice President Noam Solberg, and judges Dafna Barak-Erez, David Mintz, Yael Wilner, and Ofer Grosskopf.
The discussion was conducted in a charged atmosphere and included sharp confrontations between the parties.
The petitioners claim that the government has dishonored the court by not implementing a ruling issued about six months ago, according to which it must enforce the conscription of the Haredim. The petitioners seek to impose personal sanctions on the Prime Minister and the ministers who refrain from implementing the court ruling.
During the hearing, Judge Wilner said: "What is disturbing is the lack of uniformity in enforcement. The numbers of enforcement versus the general public - these are huge gaps, where is the equality?" She added: "The question was why are they taking action against those who are not Haredi.".
The representative of the Attorney General, Neta Oren, said: "Enforcement operations resulted in serious disturbances and blockades. War broke out and military and police officials were busy with war operations.".
Judge Solberg commented: "Can you guarantee that the police will do their job in Haredi concentrations?".
Judge Grosskopf added: "Does the police not have the manpower? This is true for all draft evaders - won't every draft evader be detained? He receives a notice to go to the draft office. Right now, the police don't even have the manpower to wait half an hour for the military police to arrive.".
Judge Solberg slammed the police representative: "The feeling is of the complete annihilation of the police." The police representative replied: "We turned to the IDF to cooperate.".
Judge Barak Erez: "What's the difficulty in delaying a fugitive who has been arrested for another half hour?" Police representative: "We don't have the manpower for that! Any such delay results in the downtime of a police car, and there are cities in Israel that only have one car. This means that I don't have the manpower to deal with violence.".
Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fox claimed that the government is working on the issue, noting that benefits totaling 25 billion shekels have been approved for reserve soldiers - which the Haredi sector does not benefit from.
Fox added that a team of ministers has approached the Attorney General for an opinion on imposing sanctions without legislation, but this has not yet been received. Judge Solberg commented on this: "The feeling is that this ping-pong is intended to stall for time. I don't want to be blunt, what is possible to implement the ruling that was given?".
The head of the IDF's Personnel Division, Brigadier General Tal, presented the court with recruitment data from recent years. According to the data, in 2024, 1,812 Haredim enlisted, and in the first half of 2025, the number stood at 1,866 recruits, indicating a slight increase but still far from the required targets.
After a series of outbursts, the petitioners' representative, Attorney Eliad Shraga, was heard saying, following the words of the military and state representatives: "Liars and cheats" - alongside a curse.
He also shouted at the judges: "They are lying to you." He added, criticizing the judges: "And you buy it.".
Judge Noam Solberg called him to order and said: "My lord, please respect the place and his company.".
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