Israel's High Court Bars Subsidies For Some Yeshiva Students Who Have Received Draft Deferrals

In Israel yesterday, the High Court of Justice issued an interim injunction in the sensitive dispute over drafting of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli military. The Jerusalem Post reports that the Court order prohibits the government from transferring funds for stipends to some 3000 yeshiva students. In 2012, Israel's High Court of Justice held that the "Tal Law" that provided exemptions for ultra-Orthodox students and a framework for subsidizing their religious studies conflicted with Israel's Basic Law, and therefore the Knesset could not extend the law in its then existing form after its July 2012 expiration. (See prior posting.) The Knesset has so far been unable to agree on a new law. However, the government has continued paying stipends, and the Justice Minister issued mass deferrals to Orthodox students who received enlistment orders after the Tal Law expired.  In yesterday's action, the High Court ruled that no future stipends may be paid to yeshiva students in the 1994, 1995, and first half of 1996 cohorts who have received enlistment orders but have been deferred.