JERUSALEM: A new draft law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews, whose support is crucial for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, has sparked uproar in Israel, with the opposition denouncing it as a special privilege for “draft-dodgers.”
Under a ruling established at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, men who devote themselves full-time to studying sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass from mandatory military service.
But this exemption has come under mounting scrutiny from the rest of Israeli society — particularly when tens of thousands of conscripts and reservists are mobilized on several fronts, despite the fragile truce halting the war in Gaza.
The ultra-Orthodox make up 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population.
Keeping ultra-Orthodox parties on board is key to the survival of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, and their opposition to mandatory military service proposals sparked a mass rally in Jerusalem in October.
Two ultra-Orthodox parties rejected a draft bill in July that would have seen an increasing number of ultra-Orthodox men enlisted each year, and financial penalties for those who refuse to comply.
On Thursday, a new draft was put forward by Boaz Bismuth, the chairman of parliament’s cross-party foreign affairs and defense committee, which rolls back significantly from the previous text.
The new proposal includes only minimal penalties for ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers, notably a ban on traveling abroad or obtaining a driving license.
It also lowers enlistment quotas and facilitates exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men who study in religious seminaries known as yeshivas.
Lawmakers will debate the text on Monday.
The center-right Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper ran a front-page headline on Friday reading “Conscription on paper only,” denouncing “an obvious fraud.”
“The new ‘conscription’ law will not recruit anyone,” it read.
Bismuth has called the bill “balanced” and “responsible.”
‘Contemptible politics’
The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party quit the government in July over the previous draft conscription bill, and now Netanyahu’s coalition only holds 60 out of 120 seats in parliament.
Ministers from the other main ultra-Orthodox party, Shas, resigned from the cabinet over the issue, though the party has not formally left the coalition.
Shas is now threatening to bring down the government if Netanyahu fails to grant the exemptions he had promised the ultra-Orthodox parties in 2022 when forming the coalition.
The decades-old de facto exemption was challenged at the Supreme Court level in the early 2000s, since when successive Israeli governments have been forced to cobble together temporary legislative arrangements to appease the ultra-Orthodox, who are the makers and breakers of governments.
The opposition has slammed the latest draft bill, believing it is too soft, and is vowing to bring it down.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the text an “anti-Zionist disgrace” on X, denouncing the “contemptible politics of the corrupt and the draft-dodgers.”
“This law is a declaration of war by the government on the reservists,” said former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is expected to run against Netanyahu in elections due by November 2026.
In June 2024, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the state must draft ultra-Orthodox men, declaring their exemption had expired.
The government has also been forced to cut certain subsidies to yeshivas, much to the chagrin of the ultra-Orthodox parties.
‘Flagrant inequality’
Only two percent of ultra-Orthodox Jews respond to conscription orders according to the military, which has created units specifically for them.
There are around 1.3 million ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, and roughly 66,000 men of military age currently benefit from the exemption, a record number according to local media reports.
On November 19, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the government was required to present an effective proposal for conscripting the ultra-Orthodox.
The ruling notes that the “flagrant inequality” created by their exemption has “worsened significantly” with the war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
It also says ultra-Orthodox conscription fills a “real security need” as the army requires about 12,000 soldiers to fill its ranks.
The court did not set a deadline for the adoption of a conscription law, but only for a debate on the issue in parliament.
Ultra-Orthodox military conscription row reignites in Israel
https://arab.news/4kgt5
Ultra-Orthodox military conscription row reignites in Israel
- Only two percent of ultra-Orthodox Jews respond to conscription orders according to the military
- There are around 1.3 million ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, and roughly 66,000 men of military age currently benefit from the exemption
US and Iran slide towards conflict as military buildup eclipses nuclear talks
- Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003
- Iran is expected to submit a written proposal in the coming days, a US official says
Iran and the United States are sliding rapidly towards military conflict as hopes fade for a diplomatic solution to their standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, officials on both sides and diplomats across the Gulf and Europe say.
Iran’s Gulf neighbors and its enemy Israel now consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, these sources say, with Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Israel’s government believes Tehran and Washington are at an impasse and is making preparations for possible joint military action with the United States, though no decision has been made yet on whether to carry out such an operation, said a source familiar with the planning.
It would be the second time the US and Israel have attacked Iran in less than a year, following US and Israeli airstrikes against military and nuclear facilities last June.
Regional officials say oil-producing Gulf countries are preparing for a possible military confrontation that they fear could spin out of control and destabilize the Middle East.
Two Israeli officials told Reuters they believe the gaps between Washington and Tehran are unbridgeable and that the chances of a near‑term military escalation are high.
Some regional officials say Tehran is dangerously miscalculating by holding out for concessions, with US President Donald Trump boxed in by his own military buildup - unable to scale it back without losing face if there is no firm commitment from Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.
“Both sides are sticking to their guns,” said Alan Eyre, a former US diplomat and Iran specialist, adding that nothing meaningful can emerge “unless the US and Iran walk back from their red lines - which I don’t think they will.”
“What Trump can’t do is assemble all this military, and then come back with a ‘so‑so’ deal and pull out the military. I think he thinks he’ll lose face,” he said. “If he attacks, it’s going to get ugly quickly.”
Two rounds of Iran-US talks have stalled on core issues, from uranium enrichment to missiles and sanctions relief.
When Omani mediators delivered an envelope from the US side containing missile‑related proposals, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi refused even to open it and returned it, a source familiar with the talks said.
After talks in Geneva on Tuesday, Araghchi said the sides had agreed on “guiding principles,” but the White House said there was still distance between them.
Iran is expected to submit a written proposal in the coming days, a US official said, and Araghchi said on Friday he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days.
But Trump, who has sent aircraft carriers, warships and jets to the Middle East, warned Iran on Thursday it must make a deal over its nuclear program or “really bad things” will happen.
He appeared to set a deadline of 10 to 15 days, drawing a threat from Tehran to retaliate against US bases in the region if attacked. The rising tensions have pushed up oil prices.
US officials say Trump has yet to make up his mind about using military force although he acknowledged on Friday that he could order a limited strike to try to force Iran into a deal.
“I guess I can say I am considering that,” he told reporters.
The possible timing of an attack is unclear. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28 to discuss Iran. A senior US official said it would be mid-March before all US forces were in place.
