Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is aiming to set up a cabinet committee to draft a revised law on military enlistment for ultra-Orthodox Jews. (Image: Palestine Chronicle)
The country’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the suspension of government subsidies to a school for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men eligible to serve in the military.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to set up a cabinet committee to draft a revised law on military enlistment for ultra-Orthodox Jews, according to Israeli media reports.
The country’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the suspension of government subsidies to a school for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men eligible to serve in the military.
The court ordered the government to present a new plan by Monday and pass it by June 30.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is working with the National Security Council to set up a cabinet committee to draft conscription legislation in an effort to either overturn the court’s ruling or at least give the impression that some progress is being made towards legislation,” Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
Netanyahu’s government includes parties that support ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, Jews, such as Shas, which has 11 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, the Israeli parliament, and United Torah Judaism, which has seven seats.
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Both parties are vehemently opposed to the plan.
“The Supreme Court’s decision destroys the foundations of the Jewish identity of the State of Israel,” Shas party leader Aryeh Deri said in a statement on X. “The Supreme Court justices want to cut off a branch of Jewish existence.”
“The Israeli people are fighting a war for survival on multiple fronts, and tonight the Supreme Court justices have done everything to provoke a war between brothers,” Deri added.
Most Jewish men in Israel are required to serve roughly three years in the military, followed by several years in the reserves. Jewish women are required to serve two years.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who make up about 13 percent of Israeli society, have traditionally been exempt while studying full-time at religious schools.
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“Not acceptable”
Benny Gantz, leader of the secularist National Coalition party, which opposes exemptions, was reported as saying: “The people will not tolerate this, the Knesset will not be able to vote in favor of it, and if this law passes, I and my allies will not be able to be part of this emergency government.”
According to Anadolu Agency, the prosecutor’s office said there are around 63,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish students who will be legally eligible for conscription as of April 1. Currently, around 1,500 Haredi Jewish students have financial support for around 56,500 of them.
Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara told the Defense and Education Ministries on Sunday that they must begin the conscription process for ultra-Orthodox Jews the next day, The Times of Israel reported. He also warned against any attempt to continue funding religious schools that harbor students evading military service in defiance of court orders, the paper said.
“As of April 1, 2024, there will be no more grounds for a blanket exemption of yeshiva students from military service, and defense authorities must act to conscript them into military service in accordance with the law,” Baharav Miara said in the letter, which was first published by Channel 13 News, the newspaper reported.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Jerusalem against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and against granting exemptions to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from military service, in scenes reminiscent of huge street protests last year. https://t.co/QkDH9IxuMB pic.twitter.com/uJtbcPVQU8
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 1, 2024
Economic impact
Meanwhile, the Bank of Israel warned on Sunday that it would suffer financial losses if more ultra-Orthodox Jewish men did not join the military, Reuters reported.
“As the burden of military service is shared among a larger number of soldiers, the economic impact on each soldier will decrease and the overall impact on the economy will also decrease,” the Bank of Israel was quoted as saying.
“Expanding the scope of military service to include ultra-Orthodox Jews will enable us to meet our growing defense needs while mitigating the personnel and economic impacts.”
The ultra-Orthodox Jewish sector currently accounts for 7% of the economy, but in 40 years’ time it will be 25%.
“Only 55 percent of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men are working, and if trends continue, Israel will lose 6 percent of its gross domestic product by 2065 and its tax burden will soar,” the report states.
Knesset lawmakers this week approved an amended budget for fiscal 2024 that adds tens of billions of shekels to fund Israel’s war on Gaza.
The debate over whether ultra-Orthodox Jews should be forcibly conscripted into the Israeli army has become the most significant challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7. https://t.co/DbfhON1woh
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) March 30, 2024
More than 32,800 people died
Israel, currently on trial at the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, continues to wage a devastating war against Gaza.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 32,845 Palestinians have been killed and 75,392 injured in the Israeli massacre in Gaza that began on October 7.
At least 7,000 more people are still missing and are believed to have died under the rubble of their homes in the Galleria area.
Palestinian and international organizations say the majority of the dead and injured are women and children.
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The Israeli invasion forced nearly two million people to flee the entire Gaza Strip, most of them to the densely populated southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt, in the largest Palestinian exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel announced that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed in Operation Al-Aqsa Flooding on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis died that day from “friendly fire.”
(PC, Anadolu Agency)
