Har Bracha students withdraw petition

Comes after High Court opinion against IDF continuing hesder arrangement.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Melamed (photo credit: )
Melamed
(photo credit: )
Following a High Court of Justice hearing on Wednesday, Har Bracha Yeshiva students withdrew their petition against Defense Minister Ehud Barak's decision to remove the institute from the hesder arrangement with the IDF.
Their decision followed a High Court opinion issued by the panel of judges against the IDF continuing the arrangement - under which men serve 16 months in the army and spend close to four years studying in yeshiva - due to "extreme" statements made by head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, supporting insubordination in the army under certain circumstances.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry stressed that other hesder yeshiva students will continue to give a "significant and important" contribution to all military units, in the form of former, current and future soldiers and commanders.
Barak's decision came after Melamed voiced support for insubordination in cases where IDF soldiers are ordered to help evacuate Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.
As a result of Barak's decision, some 150 students at Har Bracha who are in various stages of a five-year program combining military service with Torah studies will be forced to either transfer to another hesder yeshiva or serve a full three years of active duty in the IDF.
Although the IDF gave Har Bracha students a two-month extension to move to other hesder yeshivot, the petition had claimed that the request for the students to find other places to study was "causing them immediate and serious harm."
The petitioners, including three students due to be drafted into the IDF in 10 days, had further claimed that since the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee had not ratified the decision, Barak had no legal authority to make such a ruling.