The Israeli government is engaged Thursday in a race against time to find a compromise and respond to the Supreme Court on the conscription of the ultra-Orthodox, a thorny issue for the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Supreme Court, seized of several appeals demanding immediate conscription of the ultraorthodox, in order to respect the laws on equality between citizens, had given the government until Wednesday to formulate a detailed proposal for a bill.
In Israel, military service is compulsory, but ultra-Orthodox Jews (“haredim” in Hebrew) can avoid conscription if they devote their time to studying the sacred texts of Judaism, an exemption introduced when the state was created. Israel in 1948 and has never been changed since.
Given the sensitivity of this issue which has reopened a deep divide in the country, the government coalition led by Mr. Netanyahu has not reached an agreement due to opposition from ultra-Orthodox parties who do not want to hear about conscription.
The government’s request for a few additional hours, until 12 p.m. GMT on Thursday, to submit its response to the Supreme Court, seems to indicate that the different parties are seeking to find a compromise.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whose role is to advise the government on legal issues and represent it before the courts, threw a wrench into the pond on Wednesday evening by announcing that the government would have an obligation to proceed with the conscription of the ultraorthodox from 1er April due to a legal loophole.
At a time when Israel has been at war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza for almost six months, this exemption is increasingly criticized within society, some of which believe that ultra-Orthodox Jews should, like others, make their contribution to security of the country and do their military service.
Mr. Netanyahu’s government coalition is largely based on the alliance with the two major ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, which are fiercely opposed to the conscription of haredim. Their defection would bring down the coalition.
Challenge of a Minister
In May 2023, the government voted for an unprecedented budget of nearly one billion euros (1.47 billion Canadian dollars) for Talmudic schools (yeshivot).
The latter had supported Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reform project in exchange for his support for a bill which was to be discussed in Parliament before the war on the continuation of the postponement of conscription for the ultraorthodox.
But at the end of February, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant defied his prime minister by announcing a reform of military service aimed at including the haredim, and demanded that the entire government support it.
Military service (32 months for men and two years for women) is compulsory for young Israelis, but almost all ultra-Orthodox people escape it, thanks to an agreement offering young men studying full-time in Talmudic schools a deferral. every year their military service. Young religious women are automatically exempt.
Since the invalidation by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2012 of the Tal law, allowing this agreement to take place, the exemptions have continued, governed by agreements between successive governments and the ultra-Orthodox parties.
The ultra-Orthodox make up about 14% of Israel’s Jewish population, according to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), or nearly 1.3 million people.
Around 66,000 ultra-Orthodox men of military age benefit from this deferral, according to an army figure.
In 1948, this postponement allowed an elite of 400 young people to preserve the world of studies of sacred texts, which was largely decimated during the Shoah.
Most haredim demand that this exemption be maintained for all students, deeming the army incompatible with their values.