Supreme Court orders conscription of ultra-Orthodox students to Talmudic schools

A decried decision. The Israeli Supreme Court on Tuesday, June 25, ordered the conscription of ultra-Orthodox students to Talmudic schools. They were until now exempt from military service, which is obligatory in Israel, but which they can avoid if they devote themselves to the study of the sacred texts of Judaism, under an exemption established by David Ben-Gurion, founder of the State of Israel in 1948. “The executive does not have the authority to order not to apply the law on military service to students of yeshiva (Talmudic schools) in the absence of an adequate legal framework”the Court ruled. “Without anchoring this exemption in a legal framework, the State must act to impose the law”she added in her decision.

This comes as the Israeli Parliament relaunched a bill on June 11 with a view to progressive conscription of the ultra-Orthodox, against a backdrop of war in the Gaza Strip. Some critics believe that the text studied by Parliament, supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but criticized by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, is far from meeting the manpower needs of the Israeli army.

“As things currently stand, the non-execution of the law on military service creates great discrimination between those who are required to do so and those for whom measures are not taken to mobilize them (within the military). ‘army).”

the Israeli Supreme Court

in a press release

“Right now, in the midst of a difficult war, the unequal burden is more pronounced than ever and requires a lasting solution.”, according to the Court. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the plaintiffs before the Supreme Court, called “the government and the Minister of Defense to respect the decision” And “to mobilize yeshiva students”. The leader of the ultraorthodox United Torah Judaism (Ashkenazi) party, Yitzhak Goldknopf, criticized “an expected, very unfortunate and disappointing decision”.