Overview
- The High Court convened an expanded nine-justice panel on Tuesday to hear petitions that seek to overturn the temporary law that would halt arrests of bnei yeshiva for about six months.
- The Israeli government declined to send lawyers to defend the measure, a move backed publicly by Shas leader Aryeh Deri who said the court’s outcome was predetermined.
- Knesset legal counsel and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told the court the law should be invalidated because lawmakers misused the parliamentary “continuity” procedure and created a new subject without proper process.
- The court issued an interim order freezing the law before it was published, and justices pressed government and Knesset advisers on equality and national-security arguments during Tuesday’s hearing.
- The ruling could restore criminal enforcement and reopen large political flashpoints in conscription policy, protests, IDF manpower planning and coalition stability if the law is struck down.