Jerusalem– Israel’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that the army must begin conscripting ultra-Orthodox men for essential service, a historic decision that will shatter Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition as Israel’s war in Gaza continues. Is kept.
The landmark decision effectively ends a decades-old system that had given ultra-Orthodox men broad exemptions from military service hours in order to maintain mandatory conscription for the country’s secular Jewish majority. The association, considered discriminatory by critics, has created a deep divide among Israel’s Jewish majority over who should bear the burden of defending the country.
The court thwarted a law codifying the exemptions in 2017, but repeated court extensions and the government’s delaying tactics dragged out a solution for years. The court ruled that in the absence of a law, Israel’s mandatory military service applied to the ultra-Orthodox as to other citizens.
As part of long-running preparations, ultra-Orthodox men were exempted from the draft, which is mandatory for many Jewish women and men, giving them three and two years of conscription, respectively, in addition to the accumulation obligation for approximately 40 years. Are.
Those exemptions have long been a source of irritation to some of the secular crowd, a division that has widened in the eight-month-old fighting, as the army has called in thousands of troops and said it wants as much manpower as possible. Could. More than 600 soldiers have been killed since Hamas’ October 7 attack.
The politically tough ultra-Orthodox parties, key partners in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, ban any changes to the wave system. If the exemptions expire, they could devastate the coalition, disintegrating the federal government and possibly forcing new elections on a date when its reputation has fallen.
In the event of a wave, Netanyahu would have a bleak date to further delay the issue or pass rules to revive the exemption. During arguments, acting lawyers told the court that forcing ultra-Orthodox men to enlist would “break Israeli society.”
The decision was criticized in a statement from Netanyahu’s Likud party, which said a bill draft in parliament sponsored by the Israeli leader would focus on the issue. Critics say this is not in line with Israel’s wartime wishes.
“The real solution to the draft problem is not the Supreme Court decision,” the commentary said.
In its decision, the Court found that Environ was carrying out “invalid selective enforcement”, which represented a serious violation of the rule of law, and the principle according to which all persons are equal before the law.
It did not specify how many ultra-Orthodox should be recruited, but the army has said it is able to recruit 3,000 today.
About 66,000 ultra-Orthodox men are now eligible for conscription, according to Shuki Friedman, an expert on religion and environmental affairs and vice president of the Jewish Population Policy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
The ruling of Israel’s highest court must be followed, and the army is expected to begin doing so as it prepares plans to recruit thousands of members of a family that is highly unfavorable to the provider, and which follows A closed and modest lifestyle the army may not be willing to deal with immediately. The army declined immediate comment.
The court also ruled that environmental subsidies for madrassas where except for ultra-Orthodox men study should be suspended. Earlier this day, the court had put a temporary stay on the madrassa budget.
In a post on the social media platform X, Cabinet Minister Yitzhak Goldkonoff, who heads one of the most important ultra-Orthodox parties within the coalition, called the ruling “very unfortunate and disappointing.” He did not say whether his party would influence the government or not.
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox people make up about 13% of Israel’s 9.9 million households. The birth rate is prominent in the society, making it the fastest growing sector of the family, at approximately 4% annually. According to the Israeli Parliament’s Order Regulatory Committee, every day, approximately 13,000 ultra-Orthodox men reach the recruitment process at 18, but up to 10% are not admitted.
The ultra-Orthodox see their full-time Bible study as their major in protecting the environment. Many worry that better contact with the secular crowd during the military will turn followers away from strict adherence to the religion.
Ultra-Orthodox men attend specialized seminaries 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 exemptions that do not seem as controversial, partly because women are not expected to lend combat equipment.
The court’s decision is not related to the situation of Israel’s Palestinian voters, who are not expected to pay the debt and most of whom do not. As descendants of Palestinians who remained in Israel after the 1948 war that ended with its establishment, they have poor relations with the military and are criticized by some in Israel for their reconciliation with Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. See them as the 5th pillar.
Tuesday’s decision has now determined the degree of increasing friction across the alliance over the draft factor. Ultra-conservative lawmakers are likely to face intense pressure from religious leaders and their constituents and will have to choose whether the extra work in the executive is worth it to them. Previous court rulings on the factor and recruitment warnings have sparked protests and violence between the ultra-Orthodox and police.
Friedman said that ultra-conservatives “understand that they have no better political option, but at the same time their public is saying ‘Why did we vote for you?'”
The discounts have faced years of criminally demanding situations and a string of court rulings that have found the gadgets unjust. However, Israeli leaders have repeatedly backed down under pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties.
The Motion for Trait Government in Israel, which has helped solve the problem by protesting against the exemption, called on the government to immediately draft all eligible seminary scholars. Tomer Naor, head of the gang’s criminal branch, said, “This is their legal and moral duty, especially in view of the complex security situation and the urgent need for personnel within the army”.
Netanyahu’s coalition is bolstered by two ultra-Orthodox parties that ban expanding nominations to their voters. The long-serving Israeli leader has also attempted to comply with the court’s ruling to save his alliance. However, with a slim majority of 64 seats in the 120-member parliament, he is often beholden to the problems of smaller parties.
The federal government could theoretically aim to draft a law that reinstates the exemptions, although doing so may be politically challenging in the wake of the court’s decision.
Some liberal members of the federal government have indicated that they would only support a law that covers large numbers of ultra-Orthodox people, and the legislative clock is ticking for early release by the Knesset due to summer inactivity. Is. This may force the military to start drafting religious people before any new laws come into effect.
Netanyahu is selling a bill introduced by a former executive in 2022 that seeks to tackle the problem by calling for restricted ultra-Orthodox nominations.
However critics say the bill was drafted before the war and does not go far enough to address the immediate shortage of manpower as the army tries to protect its forces within the Gaza Strip as well as the Lebanese Hezbollah team. Also preparing for possible war. Which has been fighting with Israel since the war broke out in Gaza last October.
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AP Scribbler Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem contributed to this story.
