Indeed, as it has been determined, the freezing of the entry into force of a statutory provision, by means of an interim order, is the exception of the exceptions, and it is necessary to exercise increased restraint in respect of it. As a rule, it is even preferable that it be done by an appropriate panel, and after the parties' arguments have been placed before the court, at least with regard to the interim order. In our case, the interim order was granted by the entire panel, after the oral hearing, and after weighing the arguments of the parties. From a procedural point of view, it seems to me that we have taken a 'king's path' in this regard. From a substantive point of view, the unconstitutionality of the law was so conspicuous on the face of things that considerations of the chances of the petition clearly tipped the scales in favor of granting the interim order (cf. Gaza Beach, page 750: "The constitutional arguments presented before us were numerous and complex. Indeed, even the constitutional analysis required of them in the framework of the judgment is not at all simple. In this situation, we did not see justification for intervening in the validity of Knesset legislation before clarifying the issues on their merits."); This, of course, is alongside the significant infringement of constitutional rights, which affects the considerations of the balance of convenience.
- Second, because of the importance of the matter, I would like to reiterate that the purpose of the arrests and the enforcement proceedings is not, did not be, and should not be - 'to fill the prisons with dodgers'. In a comment he submitted in the framework of this proceeding, the Cabinet Secretary noted that "the State of Israel needs ultra-Orthodox recruits and not ultra-Orthodox detainees." It seems to me that everyone agrees on this. If so, what is the logic of the enforcement proceedings? I addressed this in the High Court of Justice case 5819/24:
Counsel for the State respondents emphasized in the oral hearing, again and again, that the army's goal is to bring about the recruitment of members of the ultra-Orthodox community; as she put it: 'The army needs soldiers and it does not need detainees and detainees in detention facilities' [...]. As she said, indeed it is. Even if at the end of the enforcement proceedings there may be criminal punishment, the punishment is not - and should not be - an end in itself; it is merely a means to achieve the proper, so much-needed goal of increasing the number of enlistees among members of the ultra-Orthodox community, and reducing inequality.