Israel conscription rules provoke ultra-Orthodox anger

When the ultra-Orthodox or Haredi Jewish people of Israel come together you realize how vast it is.

Hundreds of comrades and boys dressed in light and white have taken to the streets of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem – the center of the ultra-Orthodox – in an angry protest against the military draft.

It’s a performance untouched since the Splendid Courtroom’s ancient ruling that young Haredi men must be drafted into the Israeli army and are not eligible for significant executive benefits.

Young men who are full-time scholars in Jewish seminaries, or yeshivas, inform me that their spiritual lifestyle is in danger. They believe that their prayers and religious study are what protect Israel and the Jewish family.

Joseph says, “For 2,000 years we have been oppressed, and we have survived because we are learning Torah and now the Supreme Court wants to take it away from us, and that will lead to our destruction.”

“By going into the army a frum – religious Jew – will no longer be religious.”

“The draft doesn’t help militarily. They don’t want us Haredim, they don’t want us Orthodox Jews, they don’t need us,” every other scholar tells me, hiding his name because he no longer has his rabbi’s permission to grant an interview.

“They’re going to give us some dirty work over there. They’re there to make us not conservative anymore.”

For many years, there was controversy over the function of ultra-Orthodoxy among the Israeli population. From a small minority, the people are now one million-strong, making up 12.9% of the people.

Ultra-Orthodox parties have often acted as kingmakers in Israeli politics, providing support to successive governments led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in exchange for draft exemptions for their establishments and advances to the public of millions of dollars. We do.

This has been a long-term cause of conflict with secular Jewish Israelis, who generally perform mandatory military service and pay the largest share of taxes. However, the problem now comes at its most sensitive as the army faces extraordinary pressure following its longest-ever war in Gaza and a possible second war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“My son has already been in the reserves for 200 days! How many years do you want to see him? How come you are not ashamed?” Mor Shamgar was sought after he scolded Israel’s national security aide at a recent conference in Herzliya.

His irritation about his son serving as a tank commander in southern Israel was widely shared on social media.

With military leaders complaining of inadequacy of military manpower, Ms Shamgar – who says she previously voted for the Prime Minister’s birthday celebrations – believes the federal government has “handled the situation very poorly “, a nationwide effort on the draft factor while furthering his personal political survival.

“Netanyahu and his gang made the mistake of making a big decision thinking they could get away with it,” she tells me. “Because once you enforce on half the population that you have to go into the army, you cannot enforce that the other half of the population will not go into the army. It’s not even secular versus religion. I see it as an equality issue. You cannot make a law that makes half the population second-class citizens.”

Before this date, a poll by the Israel Freedom Institute indicated that 70% of Israeli Jews wanted to end the blanket exemption from military service for the ultra-Orthodox.

Despite previous blackmails, so far ultra-Orthodox incidents have not swayed the ruling coalition over military conscription. Attempt to push forward a used bill – once frowned upon by Haredi leaders – that would promote bias enrollment among their people.

At an ultra-Orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem, men of various ages are dressed in their worship shawls for the morning provider. Their Orthodox approach to the occasion is in accordance with their strict interpretation of Jewish law and customs.

So far, only one Israeli military battalion, Netzah Yehuda, was established specifically to meet ultra-Orthodox demands of gender separation with specific requirements for kosher food and setting aside time for prayers and daily rituals. Was.

However an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who works on integration issues and is on the board of an NGO that supports the battalion believes more compromises are possible and the formation of an untapped Haredi brigade. will be.

“It is up to the Haredim to come to the table and say, we are ready to make real concessions, we are ready to step out of our traditional comfort zone and do something proactive in finding the right framework that will allow more Haredi ,” says Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer.

He suggests that the hundreds of young ultra-Orthodox men who nowadays do not undertake full-time Torah study – finding themselves unsuited to the academic rigor – should be encouraged to join the army like other Jewish Israelis throughout their lives.

In order for the Israeli army to maintain its reputation as the “People’s Army”, Rabbi Pfeffer also called for it to do more to build trust and strengthen its relationship with its people. “There are a lot of housing needs out there, but they’re not rocket science,” he said.

So far, the implementation of the ultra-conservative draft seems to be slow.

More than 60,000 ultra-Orthodox men are registered as yeshiva scholars and exempt from military service. However since the Supreme Court decision, the Army has been directed to recruit only 3,000 people, in addition to the approximately 1,500 that are already available. Besides, instructions have also been given to make a plan to provide better number of employment in the coming years.

At Mea Shearim, later in the evening there are some protesters who pull out one last stand, throw stones at the police and spread across Jerusalem to attack the cars of two ultra-Orthodox politicians whom they feel That they have enabled them to join the military recruitment.

Traditionally, it has been an underserved segment of the population that resists exchange, however now between Israel’s rising nation power and the possibility of wider conflict, exchange seems inevitable.