JERUSALEM:

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students to the conscript military, a decree likely to send shockwaves through Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

Netanyahu’s coalition relies for its survival on two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard longstanding conscription exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and away from a melting-pot military that might test their conservative customs.

The ultra-Orthodox conscription waiver has become especially charged as Israel’s armed forces, made up mostly of teenage conscripts and older civilians mobilised for reserve duty, are overstretched by a multi-front war, in Gaza and Lebanon.

“At the height of a difficult war, the burden of inequality is more than ever acute,” the court’s unanimous ruling said.

Most Israelis are bound by law to serve in the military, whereas ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students have been largely exempt for decades.

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A view of the Supreme Court of Israel.
| Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Israel’s Supreme Court on June 25 ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for military service, a decision that could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel continues to wage war in Gaza.

The court ruled that in the absence of a law that distinguishes between Jewish seminary students and other draftees, Israel’s compulsory military service system applies to the ultra-Orthodox like any other citizens.

Under longstanding arrangements, ultra-Orthodox men have been exempt from the draft, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women. These exemptions have long been a source of anger among the secular public, a divide that has widened during the eight-month-old war.