The court ruled that due to the lack of a law distinguishing between Jewish seminary scholars and optional draftees, Israel’s mandatory military service system applied to the Ultra-Orthodox as well as to other optional draftees.
As part of long-running preparations, ultra-Orthodox men were exempted from the draft, which is mandatory for many Jewish women and men. Those exemptions have long been a source of anger among some secular people the divide that has widened During the eight-month-old fighting, the army has called up thousands of troops and says it needs all the manpower it can get. More than 600 soldiers were killed.
Politically difficult events for the ultra-Orthodox, key partners in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, stop any business Inside the tide device. If the exemptions expire, they could derail the coalition, crippling the federal government and forcing new elections.
Throughout arguments, acting lawyers told the court that forcing ultra-Orthodox men to enlist would “break Israeli society.”
The court’s decision comes at a sensitive era, as the fighting in Gaza reaches its ninth generation and the number of dead soldiers continues to rise.
The Court found that the environment was “perpetuating illegitimate selective enforcement, which represents a serious violation of the rule of law, and of the principle according to which all persons are equal before the law.”
It did not say what number of ultra-Orthodox should be drafted.
The court also ruled that seminary subsidies for madrassas where ultra-Orthodox men study should remain suspended. Court set quickly Previous madrasa budgets of this era.
In a post on the social media platform X, Cabinet Minister Yitzhak Goldknoff, who heads some of the ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, called the ruling “very unfortunate and disappointing.” He did not say whether his party would influence the government or not.
“The State of Israel was founded to be a home for the Jewish people, whose Torah is the basis of its existence. The Holy Torah will prevail,” he wrote.
The ultra-Orthodox see their full-time Bible study as their part in protecting Israel’s climate. Many are concerned that greater contact with the secular community during military service will lead followers away from the strict observance of the religion.
Ultra-Orthodox men attend special seminars that focus on spiritual research with minor consideration of secular subjects such as mathematics, English or science. Critics have said they are unwilling to lend to the military or contribute to the secular work force.
Spiritual women generally receive broader leeway that is not as controversial, partly because women are not expected to lend war equipment.
The ruling now sets the stage for growing friction within the coalition between those who support drafting the more ultra-Orthodox and those who refuse to speculate. Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers face intense pressure from spiritual leaders and their constituents and must choose whether dissent within the executive is worth it to them.
Shuki Friedman, vice president of the Jewish Nation Policy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank, noted the ultra-Orthodox “understand that they don’t have a better political option, but at the same time their public is saying, ‘Why did we vote for you?'”
Exemptions have faced years of criminally demanding conditions and a raft of court rulings have found the system unjust. However, Israeli leaders have repeatedly stalled under pressure from ultra-Orthodox incidents. It is unclear whether Netanyahu will be able to do so again.
Netanyahu’s coalition is bolstered by two ultra-Orthodox parties that have refused to expand nominations to their constituents. The long-serving Israeli leader has attempted to comply with court rulings while also struggling to save his coalition. However, with a slim majority of 64 seats in the 120-member Parliament, he is increasingly focusing on the issues of smaller parties.
Netanyahu is selling a bill introduced by a former executive in 2022 that seeks to tackle the problem of ultra-Orthodox nominations.
However, critics say that the bill was drafted before the war and does not go far enough to cover the severe shortage of manpower as the army seeks to preserve its forces in the Gaza Strip area as well as the Lebanese Hezbollah team. It is also preparing for a possible war. Which has been at war with Israel since the war in Gaza started last October.
With their peak birthrate, ultra-Orthodox people are the fastest growing class of people, about 4% every year. According to the Israeli Parliament’s Situation Control Committee, in every era, approximately 13,000 ultra-Orthodox men reach the conscription generation of 18, although less than 10% are conscription.
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AP essayist Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem contributed to this story.
