Israeli Supreme Court rules that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men

 

The Israeli Supreme Court has ordered the armed forces to start conscripting ultra-Orthodox men, who have traditionally been exempt from military duty, in a historic decision that might topple the government of the nation.

The decision on Tuesday was made unanimously, and it comes at a time when public disapproval of the policy has grown in the wake of last year's attack on Israel by Hamas and the months-long conflict in Gaza that has put a strain on military resources.

The Israeli Supreme Court has maintained for years that the religious exception is illegal under equal protection legislation. The state was engaging in "invalid selective enforcement, which represents a serious violation of the rule of law," the court declared in its most recent decision.

Additionally, the court maintained the March-imposed ban on subsidies for yeshivas, or religious seminaries, whose young pupils choose not to enroll.

The Israeli government had regularly extended the waiver before Tuesday's verdict, but it has been unable to enact legislation that would have made it permanent or permit a more restricted draft of ultra-Orthodox men. According to the AP, government attorneys claimed that making them enlist would "tear Israeli society apart" during recent court arguments.

With the upcoming start of ultra-Orthodox conscription, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now risks losing support within the already precarious coalition that has kept him in office. Netanyahu's governing coalition is largely composed of two politically significant ultra-Orthodox parties that adamantly reject drafting their voters. They might pull out of the coalition, which would bring down Netanyahu's administration and force fresh elections.

The exemption came to be seen as unsustainable

The ultra-Orthodox military exemption goes back to Israel's 1948 founding in the wake of the Holocaust when protecting the remnant of religious scholars was considered key for a Jewish state. At first, it only applied to some 400 people from Orthodox, or Haredi, families.

But in Israel, where military service is otherwise mandatory, Haredi families have on average six or seven children, a birth rate that makes them the fastest-growing segment of the country's population. They now make up about a quarter of enlistment-age men, according to Yonahan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute.

"There are huge implications on Israeli democracy, in multiple dimensions," he says.

The Hamas attack and Israel's response intensified opposition

Israel has been engaged in combat on three fronts since the unexpected Hamas attack on October 7 that claimed 1,200 lives in the country: a harsh military campaign in Gaza that, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, has claimed the lives of over 37,600 Palestinians; intensified conflicts in the West Bank and reciprocal strikes along its northern border with Hezbollah, an organization supported by Iran. The Israeli military has pushed for longer rotations, called up hundreds of thousands of reservists, and recruited others early to support all of this.

"Those in service will now need to put in two or three times as much work. That is absurd. According to Brothers and Sisters in Arms co-founder Ron Scherf, "It won't happen." The group of reservists has been protesting regularly since the beginning of the Gaza conflict, demanding an end to the broad ultra-Orthodox exemption. According to polls, the group's stance is overwhelmingly supported; in Israel, over 70% of Jewish respondents said that the exception ought to be changed.

"A minister in the government who is willing to send my son to his death, and his son doing nothing," adds Scherf. "Who can understand that?"

Three demands have been made by Scherf's group: waivers should be applicable to all parties, everyone must enlist, and both rules must be upheld.

One challenge: the stigma that ultra-Orthodox soldiers face

Following the Hamas attack, a few thousand ultra-Orthodox individuals did willingly enlist in the IDF. Among them was Mordechai Porat, a 36-year-old social worker from the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak.

It was as if I were a lion in a cage. I had to take action," he declares.

Porat has been a therapeutic staff member at a local military base for some months. However, he conceals his military dog tag inside his shirt and never wears his green army fatigues in public. He claims that despite keeping a low profile, he has paid a price.

In an interview from March, Porat stated, "My [kindergarten-age] son has still not been accepted into the community school."

The social price of enlisting in the Israeli military may be significantly higher for other ultra-Orthodox.

According to ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv University professor Nechumi Yaffe, "enlisting in the army will damage their ability to marry." "It will damage their relationship in the family."

She thinks when more people are drafted, the community will "normalize" and that will be beneficial. However, she believes that Israelis are unaware of how difficult that process could be for young males who have experienced social isolation and have received little to no human rights education.

"I think the Israeli society should ask itself, actually, do you want to see them in the army?" she replies. "Israelis, you know, love to see blood. They want to watch them shooting while dressed in uniform. I don't believe it's a very good idea."

Yaffe thinks it would be better to introduce them gradually, having some of them work as chefs or truck drivers at first as they adjust to a nonreligious society.

The voluntary recruit Porat believes that the majority of Haredim will prefer jail time to enlistment. However, surveys conducted following the Hamas attacks did indicate a rise in public support for soldiers, and Porat believes that this trend will continue. However, he advises that taking it slowly is preferable.

"If people are forced into it," he asserts, "they'll just push back."