Israel‘s Supreme Court unanimously decided that the army must now recruit ultra-Orthodox men for mandatory service.
Israeli Supreme Court orders ultra-Orthodox to enlist in the army
In the historic resolution, the court describes that the State does not have the authority to refrain from recruiting the ultra-Orthodox and that it is not possible to continue funding rabbinic schools whose students do not join the army.
Under old agreements, ultra-Orthodox men have not been required to perform mandatory military service, which is supposed to be mandatory for most Jewish men and women, who must serve three and two years respectively, as well as the reserve until age 40.
This decision by the Supreme Court comes after the Israeli Parliament relaunched, on June 11, a bill with a view to the progressive enlistment of the ultra-Orthodox in the armed forces.
About 66,000 ultra-Orthodox men are now eligible to enlist, according to Shuki Friedman, an expert on religion and state affairs and vice president of the Jewish People’s Policy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
It must be taken into account that Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious and far-right coalition was formed by promising that a law would be made that would exempt ultra-religious rabbinical students from serving in the army, that is, the complete opposite of what is really happening, since 76 years ago, when the state of Israel began to emerge, rabbinic students were no more than 400, when currently it exceeds the number of 12 thousand per year.
The court also ruled that state funding for seminaries where exempt ultra-Orthodox men study should remain suspended. This decision has been made since the beginning of the year, since the seminary’s budgets have remained temporarily “frozen.”
In a social media post, Cabinet Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, of one of the ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, called the ruling “very unfortunate and disappointing.” However, he did not say whether his party would leave the government.
החלטה צפויה ומאוד מצערת ומאכזבת. מדינת ישראל קמה על מנת להיות בית לעם היהודי שהתורה היא סלע קיומו. התורה הקדושה תנצח.
— השר יצחק גולדקנופף (@DOVRUTGoldknopf) June 25, 2024
