The Israeli yeshiva student who could set a precedent for asylum-seeking Palestinians

Read More

LONDON – Despite an initial setback, lawyers hope the case of an ultra-Orthodox Israeli who is seeking asylum in Britain because he believes he risks conscription to the Israel Defense Forces will set a legal precedent.

An attorney acting on behalf of the unnamed 21-year-old, who is appealing after his initial claim was rejected last year, said that if the appeal is successful, it would “potentially open doors to other conscientious objectors from Israel being able to run similar arguments in future,” as well as helping Palestinian asylum seekers with their own claims.

The yeshiva student left Israel in 2017, but his initial asylum claim was rejected by Britain’s secretary of the interior, Priti Patel, last December. His appeal to an immigration court in Manchester, scheduled for last month, was postponed due to the lack of a Yiddish interpreter. It will now be held later this month.

It is not known why the student decided to seek asylum in Britain.

Fahad Ansari, an attorney with London’s UK Riverway Law firm which is representing the student, said he was not at liberty to give any more information about his client’s personal life. But he said the young man had refused to serve in the Israeli army because of both his religious and political beliefs.

“He fled to the U.K. after he was arrested and tortured in Israel for participating in protests against conscription of yeshiva students, and after he was called up for service,” Ansari said. “To our knowledge, there is no legal precedent for the particular facts of this case: a conscientious objector from Israel. In the past, there have been cases involving conscientious objectors/military deserters from other countries,” he added.

Ansari said he was also not at liberty to disclose the expert opinions filed to support the Haredi man’s case. However, the Middle East Eye website reported that they included submissions from controversial Israeli academic Ilan Pappe, who wrote that if conscripted, the student would serve within the Netzah Yehuda Battalion (a Haredi infantry unit within the Kfir Brigade). “The appellant can end up being part of the occupation of the West Bank,” Pappe stated.

Israeli cabinet endorses ultra-Orthodox conscription legislation in ‘historic step’

Israel fights against its finest sons: ex-soldiers who dare speak up

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox win even when they’re in the opposition

If the student refused to serve, Pappe wrote that he could be jailed for up to 15 years for desertion, and would be “abused as an Orthodox Jew” in prison.

Other briefing notes quoted by Middle East Eye included an assertion that the young man was beaten by Israeli police officers after taking part in anti-Zionist protests. “On one occasion, he was handcuffed, pushed to the floor and dragged around by the handcuffs, spat at and beaten with a stick,” Pappe wrote. “He was also sprayed with foul-smelling water called ‘skunk.'”

Yeshiva students receiving military exemptions at an Israeli army base in Tel Hashomer. Eliyahu Hershkovitz

Conscientious objectors who refuse to serve in the IDF citing pacifist beliefs can face time in prison, though yeshiva students have long been given a near-complete exemption from military service. Fewer than 3,000 ultra-Orthodox men join the Israeli army each year.

Ansari said the fact that Britain has never ruled that Israel was guilty of apartheid or war crimes would not affect his client’s claim. “The doctrine of separation of powers means that the judiciary is not bound by the acts and statements of the executive,” he said. “There are many instances of British courts ruling against allies of the U.K. where they have engaged in war crimes and torture. And, of course, the British courts regularly find that the British government itself acts in an unlawful manner, regardless of whether the government sees itself as acting lawfully.”

He continued: “Our focus is to secure our client’s safety from being persecuted on return to Israel. If he is successful, it will of course potentially open doors to other conscientious objectors from Israel being able to run similar arguments in future. A judicial recognition that Israel is committing apartheid will also potentially assist Palestinian asylum seekers with their own claims.”