Uproar over Orthodox Jews decision
AN Israeli Supreme Court decision that could force ultraOrthodox citizens to serve in the army like their secular counterparts sparked anger from religious leaders yesterday and reignited a sensitive political debate.
Tuesday’s decision strikes down a law exempting ultra-Orthodox men engaged in religious study from military service, saying it undermines equality.
The decision raises the possibility that they could be forced into service, a highly contentious proposition with political implications.
The court, however, suspended its decision for one year to allow for preparations for the new arrangement.
Ultra-Orthodox political parties and their allies in government are likely to draft new legislation that could seek to override the court ruling.
The ultra-Orthodox parties form a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition and have often acted as kingmakers in Israeli politics. About 10% of Israel’s eight million people are considered ultra-Orthodox.
Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, whose ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism alliance is part of Netanyahu’s coalition, accused the court of seeking to topple the coalition.
He called the ruling “one of the worst, most wretched judicial decrees that will enter the long history of persecutions of the Jewish people”.
The issue is part of a decades-old debate over whether young ultra-Orthodox men studying at seminaries should perform mandatory military service like the rest of Israel’s Jewish population.
After reaching 18, men must serve two years and eight months, while women must serve for two.
In 2015, lawmakers passed legislation extending their exemption from duty, reversing a law passed the previous year that would have seen it expire.
Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, initially granted the exemption in the early years of the state founded in 1948, which at the time involved only 400 students.
The ultra-Orthodox are, however, today among the fastest- growing segments of Israel’s population.
They oppose serving for a variety of reasons, with the most extreme believing a Jewish state is not allowed before the coming of the Messiah.
Others argue that yeshiva study is just as important to Israel as military service or that ultra-Orthodox soldiers would be confronted with unreligious behaviour.
Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party who pushed to remove the exemption as part of the previous government in 2014, welcomed the court’s decision.
Lapid, now in the opposition, also criticised Netanyahu, saying the prime minister could not continue to avoid the issue and that “conscription is for everyone, not just for the suckers who don’t have a party in the coalition”.