- Israeli Supreme Court suspends state funding for seminaries
- Ultra-Orthodox exemptions from military service face scrutiny
- Coalition government pressured to address exemption issues
Amid ongoing hostilities with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, the Israeli government and society have increased their appeals for Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox Jews, to enlist in the military.
Decades of dispute have surrounded the exemption of ultra-Orthodox individuals from obligatory military service.
As the coalition government of Israel was unable to pass legislation to extend the exemption before it expired on March 31, the Supreme Court issued an interim order last week suspending state funding for Jewish seminaries if students refused to comply with the conscription.
A month has been extended for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to find a resolution following the government’s eleventh-hour petition to the Supreme Court for a 30-day postponement.
Government officials were given until April 30 to submit additional arguments by the Supreme Court.
Who is required to enlist in the military and who is exempt?
Israel mandates military service for all “Jewish, Druze, or Circassian” citizens beginning at the age of 18. A minimum of two years is served by women, while males serve for about three years.
Whether Muslim or Christian, Palestinian citizens of Israel are not required to enlist in the military.
In addition to having an annual deferral from enlistment until the age of 26, Jewish males who study the Torah full-time in seminaries are exempt from the age requirement for joining the army at that time. Exempt are young ultra-Orthodox women.
Exemption has been granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews ever since the establishment of Israel in 1948. Following the Holocaust, the nation’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, granted exemptions to 400 community members’ pupils to enable them to study and safeguard sacred Jewish knowledge and traditions.
Why is the ultra-Orthodox community under immediate pressure to enlist?
Exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox, who now comprise approximately 13 percent of the population due to their high birthrate, have become an increasing problem over the years. By its reproduction rate surpassing six children per woman, it is anticipated that the community will constitute one-third of the total population in forty years.
The males support themselves through donations and state benefits subsidized by other Israeli citizens while devoting their lives to religious studies.
An associate fellow at the London-based Chatham House, Yossi Mekelberg, whose area of expertise is Israeli and Middle Eastern politics, stated that the ultra-Orthodox and non-ultra-Orthodox carried an “unequal burden.
The exemption of 66,000 community members from military service last year was regarded as substantial manpower that the military could have utilized for the conflict in Gaza.
Yoav Gallant, the minister of defense, urged legislators to pass legislation eliminating exemptions last month.
“Currently, the army needs personnel. “The issue at hand pertains to mathematics rather than politics,” he declared.
More than 3,000 Israeli soldiers have been injured and nearly 600 have been slain in combat since the beginning of the conflict, according to the Israeli army.
What do the Haredim believe?
According to ultra-Orthodox doctrine, military service is contrary to their values. A portion of them hold the anti-Zionist stance because founding the state of Israel would betray the advent of the Messiah.
Several thousand ultra-Orthodox individuals demonstrated against the court’s order this week outside of Bnei Brak in central Israel. They carried placards that read, “Stalin is present,” “To jail rather than the army,” and “We will die rather than be drafted.”
The leader of the ultra-Orthodox political party Shas, which is a member of Netanyahu’s coalition, Aryeh Deri, stated last week that all efforts were made by Supreme Court justices “to spark a fratricidal war.”
“The High Court of Justice’s decision undermines the fundamental tenets of the Jewish identity of the State of Israel,” he stated on X.
What is transpiring within the realm of politics?
The discourse has come perilously close to rupturing Netanyahu’s coalition. Although public opinion surveys indicate that a majority supports enlisting the ultra-Orthodox, Netanyahu’s government is comprised of two ultra-Orthodox parties, and their withdrawal could force him to face new elections, which polls predict he would lose.
Benny Gantz, leader of the centrist National Unity and a member of the war cabinet, stated that his party would resign from the government if legislation were to pass exempting ultra-Orthodox individuals from military service.
Mekelberg stated, “It is difficult to imagine how [the court] could change its mind” regarding its interim ruling, but enlisting ultra-Orthodox individuals in the military remains “a lengthy process.”
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“To mobilize them, a specialized unit is required because they refuse to serve with women and require kosher meals… “They are not known for their physical fitness, which is a requirement in the military; going to the gym and playing football are not activities in their daily routine,” he explained.
“The High Court of Justice ruled that public funding will not be allocated to rabbinical seminaries until their scholars refrain from military service.” In the absence of these budgets and resource allocation, their survival will be threatened. This will completely alter the discourse.”
