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Haredim in Israel: military service? Only 177 signed up!
Military service debate in Israel: Only 177 of 10,000 drafted Haredim enlist. Supreme Court demands equality.
Haredim in Israel: military service? Only 177 signed up!
In Israel, conscription for ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim, remains at the center of a heated dispute. According to a recent report by the Times of Israel, of the 10,000 draft notices sent out, only 177 Haredim accepted military service. The latest survey also recorded 265 conscientious objectors who ignored draft notices, which could result in them being banned from leaving the country and potentially being arrested by the police. This poses a significant challenge for the Israeli army, which numbers around 67,000 military-eligible Haredim, and is causing ongoing tensions within Israeli society, as reported by the KNA news agency.
The Federal Court recently challenged the existing status quo by ruling that the military exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews has no legal basis, which has affected the laws since changes in 2015. The Court has given the government a period of one year to develop the necessary legal reforms, otherwise an emergency decree would come into force extending conscription to all men without exception, according to Focus Jerusalem. Court President Miriam Naor emphasized that the current exceptions seriously violate the principle of equality and that it is also time for Haredim to do their part in defending the country.
Protests and resistance
The social division has long since spilled over onto the streets of Israel; Many Haredim strongly oppose conscription because they fear losing their religious values through military service. When the State of Israel was founded, the Jewish rabbis were assured that Talmud students would be exempt from military service. However, this regulation has met with a strong lack of understanding among the secular population, who feel disadvantaged. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said he was prepared to fight to maintain the exemptions, calling the court's stance "completely divorced from our traditions." The Haredim's resistance shows that the issue of conscription reveals not only legal but also deeper cultural tensions in Israel that the government and society will have to deal with in the near future.