JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved a plan on Tuesday to start drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, a move likely to further strain relations within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fractious right-wing coalition.
His government relies on two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard conscription exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and out of a melting-pot army that might test their traditional customs.
Their political leaders are fiercely opposed to conscription at a time when Israel’s army is seeking to bolster its ranks amid the nine-month-old war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
After discussions with top military officials, Gallant approved their recommendations for a so-called first call-up of ultra-Orthodox men into the military over the coming month, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The order is for an initial screening and evaluation to determine potential recruits, it said. Initial call-ups are sent to Israelis when they are over 16 years old and they usually begin military service at the age of 18.
Israelis are bound by law to serve in the military for 24-32 months. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab minority are mostly exempt, though some do serve, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students have also been largely exempt for decades.
But Israel’s Supreme Court last month ruled that the state must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students into the military.
The long-time military waiver for the ultra-Orthodox has sparked protests in recent months by Israelis angry that the risk of fighting in Gaza is not being equally shared. For their part, ultra-Orthodox protesters have blocked roads under the banner “death before conscription.”
Israel’s defense minister OKs plan to start drafting ultra-Orthodox
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Israel’s defense minister OKs plan to start drafting ultra-Orthodox
- After discussions with top military officials, Gallant approved their recommendations for a so-called first call-up of ultra-Orthodox men into the military
- The order is for an initial screening and evaluation to determine potential recruits
Israel gives legal status to 19 West Bank settlements
- Construction of settlements — including some built without official Israeli authorization — has increased under Israel’s far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other
JERUSALEM: Israel’s Cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a pullout aimed at boosting the country’s security and the economy, Israeli media reported.
The Palestinian Authority on Friday condemned the move, announced late on Thursday.
Some of the settlements are newly established, while others are older, Israeli media said.
The move to legalize the settlements in the West Bank — territory Palestinians seek for a future state — was proposed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Most world powers deem Israel’s settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal. Numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
Construction of settlements — including some built without official Israeli authorization — has increased under Israel’s far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other.
The 19 settlements include two that Israel withdrew from in 2005, evacuated under a disengagement plan overseen by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that focused mainly on Gaza.
Under the plan, which was opposed by the settler movement at the time, all 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza were ordered to be evacuated. Most settlements in the West Bank were unaffected.
In a statement on Friday, Palestinian Authority Minister Mu’ayyad Sha’ban called the announcement another step to erase Palestinian geography.
Sha’ban, of the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said the decision raised serious alarms over the future of the West Bank.
Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the Israeli-occupied West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian nation existing alongside Israel.
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians reached their highest recorded levels in October with settlers carrying out at least 264 attacks, according to the UN.
