Legal challenge to IDF's chametz prohibition threatens Israel's Jewish character

With the support of The Lawfare Project, one of Israel's most prominent constitutional and administrative law lawyers requested leave from Israel's High Court of Justice to submit an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief opposing the introduction of chametz (leavened bread) on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military bases during Passover. The underlying lawsuit — launched in 2021 by non-governmental organizations the Secular Forum and Hiddush — seeks to overturn the longstanding IDF prohibition on food that is not kosher for Passover.

Allowing chametz would infringe on the religious freedom of countless observant IDF soldiers and would likely discourage them from being present on their bases during Passover. Religious Israelis may be dissuaded from joining the military at all. More broadly, the lawsuit is a direct attack on Israel's Jewish character and an attempt to undermine the integrity of the Jewish State by portraying the longstanding tradition of abstaining from chametz during Passover — which is observed by the overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews, both religious and secular — as some sort of civil or human rights violation. All the more troubling, the organizations behind this lawsuit are funded by the New Israel Fund, which also provides significant financial support to a number of entities (such as Adalah and Breaking the Silence) that are "primarily active in campaigns that contribute to BDS and delegitimization" of the State of Israel.