NFollowing a decision by Israel’s Supreme Court on conscription of ultra-Orthodox religious students, a heated argument has broken out in the government. The court had provisionally ordered on Thursday that from April 1st the state may no longer pay Jewish religious academies (yeshivas) subsidies for students who do not do military service. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then accused Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whose statement had anticipated the judges’ strict line, of wanting to bring down the government.
He had previously tried in vain to get the court to postpone the decision further, citing the war. Due to internal disagreement, his government was unable to present the court with a plan within the set deadline on how it would deal with the controversial issue of conscription for religious students.They have been de facto exempt from military service for decades, although the Supreme Court has declared several laws in this regard to be unconstitutional.
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Defense Minister Joav Galant from Netanyahu’s Likud party and Minister Benny Gantz from the National Unity Party refused to pursue this policy any further. The ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, in turn, have reportedly threatened to leave the coalition if compulsory military service is extended to religious students.Representatives of the ultra-Orthodox parties expressed sharp criticism of the court’s decision, which might hit the yeshivas economically hard. According to media reports, the annual amount is the equivalent of around 100 million euros, almost a quarter of their budget.
Izchak Yosef, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, caused a stir with a statement at the beginning of March. In his weekly sermon he said that if the state forced religious students to serve in the army, “then we would all emigrate.” The statement and the excited and sometimes malicious reactions to it showed how hardened positions on the issue have become. Many Israelis, who do three years of military service and often reserve service until they are at least forty, are calling for the burden of military service to be fairly distributed across society.
The Gaza war, which for many Israelis involved conscription and months of army service, has deepened their anger at the exemption for ultra-Orthodox. The “Movement for Quality Government in Israel,” which filed a petition with the Supreme Court once morest the exemption from military service for religious students, spoke of a “historic” decision that marked the end of “illegitimate discrimination.”
After the last law regulating the exemption of religious students from military service was declared invalid last summer, the government issued an administrative order that extended the existing situation. It expires on March 31st. Theoretically, religious students would also have to be drafted from April 1st; According to the Attorney General’s Office, around 63,000 people are involved. The Israeli army announced on Friday that it would proceed in accordance with the current legal situation. At the same time, we will look for ways in which ultra-Orthodox conscripts can be appropriately integrated into the army.
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