The ultra-Orthodox public in Israel could soon begin refusing to pay taxes, the leader of the Haredi Shas party, Aryeh Deri, warned on Sunday, after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced an end to tax breaks for donors who give money to yeshivas that harbor military draft dodgers.
The decision, announced following a hearing chaired by the attorney general and joined by the director of the Israel Tax Authority and the head of the Israel Corporations Authority, means that donors who give money to institutions at which draft dodgers are enrolled will no longer be eligible for a tax credit given to those who donate to public institutions and NGOs.
It was the latest attempt to punish ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers by denying them various financial and welfare benefits unless they enlist for military service, and the government’s criticism of Baharav-Miara and the decision was swift.
Deri, whose Shas party is one of two ultra-Orthodox parties in the Knesset, decried the “anarchist” attorney general, and warned that her efforts to clamp down on draft evaders were “leading the ultra-Orthodox public to the edge, and will lead it to a tax revolt, a disconnection from the police and a deep rift with the state authorities.”
“Everyone who cares about the future of this country must stand up against this insanity,” Deri insisted, addressing his plea to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, as well as the far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties.
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Repeating the oft-uttered threat of severing the long alliance between the Haredi parties and Israel’s right-wing should the matter not be rectified, Deri warned that it was “inconceivable” for Shas and United Torah Judaism to become “this government’s punching bag.”
Ultra-Orthodox men block a road in Bnei Brak during a protest against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with the military draft, May 28, 2026. (Flash90)
His outrage was echoed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who called for the government and coalition to “unite” and “put an end to discriminatory judicial anarchy.”
Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs also criticized the attorney general’s decision, opining that the current tactics being used to try and enlist Haredi men, namely arrests and economic sanctions, would only backfire.
These efforts, Fuchs said, “will ultimately lead to a decrease in ultra-Orthodox recruitment to the IDF, to the transformation of the entire Haredi public into the Jerusalem Faction (an extremist group which regularly holds rowdy protests against the conscription of yeshiva students) and, God forbid, even to civil war.”
The threat of a Haredi tax revolt came days after the chair of Degel HaTorah, one of the two factions that make up United Torah Judaism, Moshe Gafni, instructed local party representatives on regional councils across the country to halt all cooperation with law enforcement over the arrest of several draft dodgers.
Over the past two years, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community whose exemptions from mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces were revoked under a 2024 High Court ruling. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as evaders and being subject to arrest or other sanctions.
In April, the High Court of Justice ordered the government to adopt a raft of measures that would punish ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers by denying them various welfare benefits.
It also called on the state to take “actual criminal proceedings” against the draft dodgers, saying it was issuing the orders because the government had failed to implement a previous ruling from November 2025 to adopt enforcement measures against ultra-Orthodox men who have failed to enlist in the IDF after being sent conscription orders.
The IDF recently warned of a steadily worsening shortage of combat soldiers in the standing military, high burnout among troops, and fears that the reserve army could “collapse” if necessary legislation is not advanced by the government.
Sam Sokol contributed to this report.
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