Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the army must start conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, a decision that threatened to split Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government in the midst of the war in Gaza.
The nine-judge bench unanimously ruled that exemptions from military service that have been granted for years to many ultra-Orthodox religious students have no legal basis. The court ruled that because there is no law that distinguishes between seminarians and other men of draft age, the country's compulsory military service law should apply to the ultra-Orthodox minority as well.
Exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews have long been a bone of contention for secular Israelis in a country where military service is compulsory for most Jewish men and women. But with the war in Gaza now in its ninth month, with tens of thousands of reservists serving multiple tours and hundreds of soldiers losing their lives, anger over their special treatment is growing.
“Today, in the midst of a difficult war, the burden of that inequality is greater than ever, calling for the advancement of sustainable solutions to this problem,” the justices wrote in their decision.
The ruling pits ultra-Orthodox Jews against secular Jews, who say Bible study is as vital to Israel's defense as military might, and exposes rifts in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, which has relied on the support of two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties in the midst of Israel's deadliest war in decades.
Netanyahu is seeking legislation that would generally maintain exemptions for religious students, but if he goes ahead with the plan it could alienate other members of his government amid growing public anger over his government's strategy on the Gaza war.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews have been exempt from military service since Israel's founding in 1948, when the country's leaders promised them autonomy in exchange for their help in creating a mostly secular state. In addition to being exempt from military service, ultra-Orthodox Jews, known in Hebrew as Haredim, are allowed to run their own education system.
The Supreme Court also targeted the system in its ruling, saying the government could not send subsidies to so-called yeshivas, religious schools that enroll students of draft age whose exemptions are no longer legal.
The decision immediately sparked outrage among ultra-Orthodox politicians, who vowed to oppose it.
“The State of Israel was founded to be a homeland for the Jewish people whose foundation of existence is the Torah of Judaism. The holy Torah will prevail,” ultra-Orthodox Pastor Yitzhak Goldnopf said in a statement on Monday.
Currently, about 1,000 Haredi men serve voluntarily — less than 1 percent of the total force — but the Hamas-led attack on October 7 appears to have strengthened some Haredi's sense of community with mainstream Israelis. More than 2,000 Haredi men applied to join the army in the first 10 weeks of the war, according to military figures.
Gaby Sobelman and Myra Noveck Contributed report.
