Israel’s Jewish Orthodox Men No Longer Exempt from Military

Israel’s Supreme Court, consisting of nine judges, finally ruled unanimously today that its young men who are ultra-Orthodox are no longer exempt from compulsory military service as in the past. Since the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel now consists of 13% of the nation’s population, this court decision may result in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government falling apart, requiring another election.

Israel’s Religious Influence on Government

This is a landmark decision in Israel that has been a long time coming. Netanyahu’s Likud government has only been able to exist with a coalition catering to religiously, right-wing, political parties. It includes two ultra-Orthodox religious parties that have had an outsized influence on this government. One such influence has been Israel turning even more of a blind eye toward militant, West Bank settlers who increasingly commit atrocities against Palestinians living there, making life intolerable for them.

Israel’s Military Draft

Israel has a compulsory, military draft, just as the U.S. used to have when I was a young man. (I therefore had to serve in our military reserves for seven years, both Army and then Air Force). But Israeli governments usually have allowed young, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men avoid the military draft by attending yeshivas, which are Jewish academies that teach Judaism. Israel’s courts have ruled against this practice in the past, but it generally has been unenforced or the decision later was struck down.

Israel’s War in Gaza Could Expand

It appears that this court decision could not have come at a worse time, since Israel is conducting a war against the governing Islamic Hamas party in the Gaza Strip. In less than nine months, this war has resulted in an astounding number of Palestinian casualties, reportedly over 35,000, who have been mostly non-combatant civilians. About half of them have been women and children.

Plus, the militant Islamic organization Hezbollah to the north, in Lebanon, is rattling its swords to possibly engage Israel in another front that could prove more volatile than the war in Gaza. And during all of this militant activity, the U.S. is strained to continue its support of Israel as its #1 ally by furnishing it with needed military equipment and ammunitions.

Israel’s Division about Military Compulsion

For decades, anger has been growing among Israel’s general population toward the exemption of young men from Israel’s compulsory military duty for both men and women. The war in Gaza has required a call-up of Israel’s military reservists, which has resulted in hundreds of these soldiers being killed. This new law will require tens of thousands of young, ultra-Orthodox, Jewish men enter Israel’s military. As a result, some could flee the country. Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community has always argued that this exemption from military service was necessary because the study of scripture divinely protects the nation of Israel. Yet, the ultra-Orthodox community does not want Netanyahu’s coalition government to be dissolved because they could lose their political influence as a result.

It appears that this court decision today could widen the division in Israel’s Jewish society between secular Jews and religious Jews.