In a landmark decision, Israel\u2019s Supreme Court has ordered the government to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, delivering a significant setback to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ruling coalition. This ruling strikes at the heart of a longstanding and contentious issue in Israeli society and politics.<\/p>\n
The court\u2019s decision challenges a key pillar of Netanyahu\u2019s governing coalition, which relies heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties. These parties have long advocated for exemptions from military service for their constituents, allowing them to pursue religious studies instead.<\/p>\n
Military service is mandatory for most Israelis, with men typically serving for 32 months and women for 24 months. However, ultra-Orthodox Jews have historically been granted exemptions, a practice that has caused resentment among other segments of Israeli society who view it as unfair.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling is likely to create significant political tension within Netanyahu\u2019s coalition. Ultra-Orthodox parties consider military service exemptions a non-negotiable condition for their political support, and this decision directly threatens that arrangement.<\/p>\n
Critics of the exemptions argue that they create an unfair burden on other Israelis and hinder the integration of the ultra-Orthodox community into broader Israeli society and the workforce. Supporters, however, contend that the exemptions are necessary to preserve religious traditions and study.<\/p>\n
This ruling sets the stage for a potential showdown between the judiciary and the government. It remains to be seen how Netanyahu\u2019s administration will respond to this challenge, given the potential for political instability if ultra-Orthodox parties withdraw their support in protest.<\/p>\n
The decision also raises questions about the implementation of such a draft, considering the cultural and religious sensitivities involved. The government will need to navigate these complexities while adhering to the court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n
As Israel grapples with this pivotal change, the coming weeks are likely to see intense political manoeuvring and public debate over the role of the ultra-Orthodox in Israeli society and the military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Military service is mandatory for most Israelis, with men typically serving for 32 months and women for 24 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":406,"featured_media":20709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[327,316,4577,12046,349,3339,12045],"class_list":["post-20708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-israel","tag-israeli-military","tag-israeli-supreme-court","tag-jews","tag-supreme-court","tag-ultra-orthodox"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}