HCJ Department Director: "The Law on Exemption from Arrests Is Not a Law"

The director of the High Court of Justice (HCJ) department at the State Attorney's Office, Adv. Aner Hellman, stated on Tuesday at an HCJ hearing that "the law on exemption from arrests is not a law" due to the flawed procedure by which it was passed. Regarding the fact that it is a temporary order, Hellman noted: "A law that establishes discrimination in criminal law cannot stand for a week."

The official in charge of representing the Knesset in court, Adv. Yitzhak Bart, added: "There is no way to explain how the flaws in the legislative process are consistent with the Basic Law: The Knesset and the Knesset Rules of Procedure. The legal conclusion is clear." The remarks were made at a Supreme Court hearing on four petitions filed to disqualify the law on exemption from arrests for yeshiva students. The Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Justice Noam Sohlberg, stated: "We will strive to give the verdict in the near future."

The government waived representation, claiming that the results are known in advance. The representative of the Israel Hofshit organization, Adv. Hagai Kalai, said: "This is a law without precedent that gives immunity to deserters." The representative of Yesh Atid, Adv. Oded Gazit, stated: "This is a disgraceful and abominable law that establishes different criminal law according to political affiliation. The Prime Minister ran away and did not vote, and the Knesset Speaker did not conduct the session."

The representative of Yisrael Beiteinu, Adv. Eitan Haberman, added: "Everyone knew that the law would not pass the HCJ test." The Haredi lawyer Natan Rosenblat said, on the other hand, that "the Torah forbids serving as long as the great sages of Israel do not permit it. There is not one great Torah scholar who permits it."

Two weeks ago, the Knesset plenum approved the law granting yeshiva students immunity from legal proceedings for desertion and evasion until the end of January. The coalition did so despite the sharp opposition of the IDF Chief of Staff, Rav-Aluf Eyal Zamir. Two days after the law was enacted, Supreme Court Justice Ofer Grosskopf issued a temporary order suspending the law's entry into force. The hearing was transferred to a panel of 9 judges.

The Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, supported accepting the petitions, writing that "the amendment to the law represents an extreme and clear case of flawed and offensive legislative regulation, which is subject to nullity." She further argued that the true purpose of the law is to create a "mechanism of immunity" by freezing arrests and investigations. In the response submitted by the Knesset Legal Advisor, Sagit Afik, it was acknowledged that the legislative process was flawed due to procedural violations and significant constitutional difficulties.