The new draft was made possible by a landmark Supreme Court decision last month. The High Court ruled 9-0 that the government must draft strictly Orthodox men into the military, ruling that “there is no legal framework that makes it possible to distinguish between students of the yeshivahs and others”.
The court called the current exemption scheme, in which Yeshivah students receive temporary deferrals until they age out of service, “unconstitutional”.
The ultra-Orthodox community in Israel considers military service a distraction from Torah study, and a threat to their way of life. Over the last few months, as the case has passed through the courts, Charedim has protested the potential draft.
In April, hundreds of protesters blocked a major highway in Bnei Brak, during a demonstration against conscription. The demonstrators held signs reading “to jail and not the army,” and “we will die rather than draft”.
Although the October 7 attacks have highlighted the need for conscription to be expanded, the enlistment bill is causing problems in the Knesset.
The Charedi parties, who have traditionally made up the most stable part of Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, have threatened to quit the Prime Minister’s government over expended conscription.
