With Its Soldiers Mired In Gaza, Israel Is Fighting A Battle At Home Over Drafting The Ultra-Orthodox.

JERUSALEM — As Israel fights a long war in Gaza, broad exemptions from mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men have reopened a deep schism in the country and shaken the government coalition, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fellow War Cabinet members staunchly opposed to his proposed new conscription legislation.

By the end of the month, Israel’s government must introduce legislation to increase recruiting among the religious community. As the deadline approaches, public debate has become increasingly poisonous, starkly contrasting to early-war expressions of solidarity.

With Its Soldiers Mired In Gaza, Israel Is Fighting A Battle At Home Over Drafting The Ultra-Orthodox.

So far, Netanyahu’s government has weathered the public outrage caused by Hamas’ October 7 strike, which launched the war, but the draft issue has put him in a bind. The fall of the three-member War Cabinet would jeopardize the country’s stability at a critical juncture in the conflict. However, losing the ultra-Orthodox parties would bring down his broader ruling coalition, forcing the country into new elections, as Netanyahu and his Likud party are losing in opinion polls.

“Politically, this is one of the most concrete threats to the government,” said Gilad Malach, an ultra-Orthodox researcher at the Jerusalem-based Israel Democracy Institute.

The typical Jewish male service commitment is almost three years, then several years of reserve duty. Jewish women must serve two required years. However, the politically influential ultra-Orthodox, who account for approximately 13% of Israeli society, have typically been granted exemptions provided they are enrolled full-time in religious seminaries. The exemptions and the government stipends that many seminary students get until they reach the age of 26 have outraged the general population.

The Supreme Court declared the current system discriminatory and gave the administration until April 1 to offer a bill and June 30 to pass it.

Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, who serve in Netanyahu’s War Cabinet, argue that the prime minister’s proposed measure does not go far enough to increase the number of ultra-Orthodox soldiers. Critics argue that some components, such as raising the exemption age, could reduce the numbers.

Gantz, Netanyahu’s main political challenger, warned that he would resign from the Cabinet if the enlistment law were reduced or if it was not passed by the deadline. Defense Minister Gallant stated that he would only accept a new law if Gantz and other centrist members of the country’s interim wartime administration agreed.

The administration consists of ultranationalist religious and Orthodox groups, which Gantz and a group of other former military generals joined in the early stages of the conflict. The merger was intended as a display of unity in the aftermath of October 7. However, the parties disagreed strongly on conscription.

Following the Hamas attack, Israel activated 360,000 reservists, its greatest mobilization since the 1973 Middle East war. Many have been freed but are anticipated to return to active duty in the following months. The increasing reserve duty and ideas of expanding mandatory service have fueled public outrage.

Israel’s Jewish majority views mandatory military service as a melting pot and rite of passage. The ultra-Orthodox argue that integrating into the army will jeopardize their generations-old way of life and that their devout lifestyle and adherence to Jewish precepts defend Israel as much as a powerful army.

“We prefer dying to serving in the Israeli army,” said Yona Kruskal, 42, a father of 11 and full-time seminary student, as he and some 200 others blocked traffic in Jerusalem last week in one of the many rallies against the conscription bill. “There’s no way you can force us to go to the army, because we are hell-bent that the army and religion contradict one another.”

As the ultra-Orthodox clashed with police during the protest, other Israelis chanted, “Shame! Shame!”

With Its Soldiers Mired In Gaza, Israel Is Fighting A Battle At Home Over Drafting The Ultra-Orthodox.

“My friends are sitting in Gaza while you’re here, sitting on the ground,” the man said. A woman yelled at the demonstrators, saying her son was serving in Gaza to protect them.

According to Oren Shvill, founder of Brothers in Arms, a protest group representing reserve troops who oppose Netanyahu, the ultra-Orthodox benefit from the army’s protection without actively participating. “There’s one law for everyone, and it should be enforced equally,” he said.

Economists believe the system is unsustainable. With its high birthrate, the ultra-Orthodox community is the fastest-growing portion of the population, rising approximately 4% each year. Every year, some 13,000 ultra-Orthodox males reach the conscription age of 18, yet less than 10% enlist, according to the Israeli parliament’s State Control Committee, which recently convened a hearing on the issue.

“One of the things that was debatable in the past but is now much clearer is that we need more soldiers,” said Yoaz Hendel, a former Netanyahu confidant and Cabinet member who recently completed four months of reserve duty as head of a special forces unit. He stated that the service burden should be distributed fairly across all community sectors.

The shock of the October 7 attack appeared to stoke some enthusiasm among the ultra-Orthodox to serve, but no big enlistment occurred, according to Israeli media. The army refused to comment on the ultra-Orthodox enrollment rate.

The subject has long split Israel, and court rulings have consistently ruled the system wrong. However, Israeli leaders have frequently postponed, citing pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties. It’s unclear if Netanyahu will be able to do so again.

As Netanyahu’s administration advanced a legal system overhaul with support from ultra-Orthodox coalition partners who sought to overturn court rulings on conscription, the rift over exemptions grew worse last year. The administration halted the overhaul after the war broke out.

The army has attempted to accommodate the ultra-Orthodox by forming distinct battalions that allow them to keep their religious traditions while reducing interaction with women.

With Its Soldiers Mired In Gaza, Israel Is Fighting A Battle At Home Over Drafting The Ultra-Orthodox.

Ephraim Luff, 65, a full-time seminary student in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, rejected such efforts, claiming that the men who enlist in these units are not “real Haredim,” as the ultra-Orthodox are known in Hebrew.

“The army is the final stage of Israeli education to make people into secular Israelis and to disconnect them from their Jewish heritage,” said Luff, who described how one of his eight children “strayed from the path” of full-time learning and served in the army as a truck driver for a year and a half.

Yitzhak Yosef, one of the country’s two chief rabbis, stated last month that the ultra-Orthodox “will all move abroad” if compelled to join. According to Malach of the Israel Democracy Institute, the comment elicited both outrage for urging Israelis to leave amid a national crisis and derision because many secular Israelis would not mind the ultra-Orthodox departing en masse.

On the contrary, Malach believes that the ultra-Orthodox leadership’s refusal to compromise, even as other segments of Israeli society make major sacrifices, has alienated a larger portion of the population.

“I don’t see a real opportunity for change in this government,” he told reporters. But if there are elections and there is a coalition without haredim or with weakened haredim, there could be a change.”

SOURCE – (AP)