Pursuing justice.

  The injunction “Justice, justice, shall you pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:11.)          

  could possibly lend itself to different interpretations.

Nonetheless, Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, ruled unanimously this week that the state must act to draft Haredi yeshiva students. Further to that, the court determined that there was no legal basis for the continued state financial support to yeshivas for students who had not received an exemption from military service.

The panel of nine justices found that at present there was no legal framework allowing a distinction to be made between Haredi students and others due for military service. Accordingly, the state has no power to order sweeping conscription exemptions, and must act in accordance with the Defence Service Law.

The 42-page ruling was written by acting president of the Supreme Court Judge Uzi Vogelman, with the concurrence of the other eight justices.

The ruling states that the distinction between yeshiva students and others liable for military service has no anchor in law, and that in seeking to distinguish between the two groups in enforcing the law "the government severely harmed the rule of law and the principle that all individuals are equal before the law."

The court found that, as a result of the conclusion that there was no normative framework for exempting yeshiva students from conscription, it was not possible to continue transferring financial support to yeshivas and kolels (institutes of higher rabbinic studies) for students who had not received a lawful exemption or whose service had not been lawfully deferred.

The petitioners calling for the end of discrimination in conscription were “The Movement for Quality Government in Israel”, the “Brothers in Arms” movement, and 240 mothers of both male and female combat soldiers. At the same time, petitions by the Ayalon Social Rights Forum and the Civil Democracy Movement were heard focusing on ending state support for Torah institutions whose students avoided conscription. Both groups argued that there was no legal basis for not conscripting yeshiva students.

In order to try to block intervention by the High Court of Justice, the government is currently promoting a bill allowing most yeshiva students to be exempted from military service. The bill is under discussion in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee before second and third readings. In the High Court hearing, the court made clear that there was no room to wait for further legislation after it had already waited six years, and after the issue had not been resolved in the past twenty-five years.

At this juncture while we are still bogged down in Gaza and precipitously close to a confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon I want to include ‘something lighter’, usually referred to as ‘trivia.’

According to a Walla News report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested earlier this month that his wife Sara Netanyahu and their two sons Avner and Yair receive lifelong Shin Bet security details, even when he is no longer prime minister.

According to the report, Netanyahu approached the Advisory Committee for Personal Security with the request earlier this month, and was told that it would not be discussed further “at this time.”

The Prime Minister’s bureau said in response that the Walla report is “full of lies and slander about the Netanyahu family and the prime minister.”

I’m inclined to give the Walla news report, the benefit of the doubt.

Delving deeper I discovered that British prime ministers also enjoy special security privileges.

After years of political turmoil, it’s boom time for at least one British industry: Demand for political bodyguards is escalating.

For the first time in modern history, the U.K. now has seven living former prime ministers, all of whom continue to receive extensive — and expensive — security protection.

With the ruling Conservatives on their fourth leader in as many years, and with the three most recently-departed — Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss — visibly cashing in on the lucrative international speaking circuit for ex-prime ministers, some are raising questions about the mounting cost to U.K. taxpayers.

Because every time an ex-prime minister travels abroad — even to earn themselves a six-figure sum for speaking at an obscure business conference — U.K. taxpayers are likely picking up the security tab.

“It’s an industry, there is no other word for it,” Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection at the Met Police, said.

The number of living ex-prime ministers is only likely to grow in the years ahead.

If the opinion polls are correct, Rishi Sunak will likely be out of office following next year’s general election. And the youthful nature of the current cohort — Truss is 47, and Sunak just 43, while Johnson and David Cameron are both still under 60 — means taxpayers could be on the hook for decades to come.

But the collective security bill for protecting high-profile politicians and royals, shouldered by the Home Office, remains shrouded in secrecy.

Tracking the extent to which they are used is almost impossible, given the arrangements of former PMs who are no longer in parliament — a list which until recently comprised John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron — is a private matter.

A 2015 Daily Telegraph investigation reported Blair was racking up thousands of pounds in security expenses while visiting up to five countries a week as he built up his business empire. 

“It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on protective security. To do so could compromise the integrity of those arrangements and affect individuals’ security,” a Home Office spokesperson said.

In a sign that efforts are now underway behind the scenes to scale back VIP protection costs, Prince Harry’s taxpayer-funded security was abruptly removed when he stepped back as a senior royal in 2020. He unsuccessfully brought a case against the Home Office to court, arguing he is entitled to police protection even if he has to pay for it privately.

On reconsideration, maybe our royals, King Bibi and family aren’t so bad after all.

 

Take care.

 

Beni,

27th of June, 2024.