Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for compulsory service, a landmark decision that could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel continues to wage war in Gaza.
The historic ruling effectively puts an end to a decades-old system that granted ultra-Orthodox men broad exemptions from military service while maintaining mandatory enlistment for the country’s secular Jewish majority. The arrangement, deemed discriminatory by critics, has created a deep chasm in Israel’s Jewish majority over who should shoulder the burden of protecting the country.
The court struck down a law that codified exemptions in 2017, but repeated court extensions and government delaying tactics over a replacement dragged out a resolution for years. The court ruled that in the absence of a law, Israel’s compulsory military service applies to the ultra-Orthodox like any other citizen.
Under longstanding arrangements, ultra-Orthodox men have been exempt from the draft, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women.
Such a clear example of religion as a tool of power. They are cowards using religion as a shield. They scream and scream about how evil everyone else is but expect those others to do all the killing for them. The killing that they demand. Cowards. Dumb too. Like so dumb words can’t even cover it.
Note that there is two separate streams in there. There is the orthodox Jews that use religion as a shield like you say and are avid fans of Israeli fascism but dont want to get their hands dirty.
And there is orthodox Jews that are very outspoken against Israeli fascism, sometimes going as far as rejecting Israeli statehood as a whole and demanding a Palestinian state where people have equal rights regardless of religion or ethnicity and were land has to be bought and cannot be stolen by murdering the rightful owners.
Being blissfully unaware of Israel’s “culture”, could someone explain who the ultra-orthodox are and why it affects Mileikowsky?
Bibi has a coalition government as his party didn’t get enough votes on their own in the last election. He cozied up with some far right parties to make said government. A lot of those parties have a support base made up of ultra conservative (ultra-orthodox) Jews. Essentially they’re the Jewish version of evangelical Christians. They’re insular, follow the Torah to exact letter of the law, and up until this point they were exempt from conscription as they see their service to the state as study. Many in Israel hold them in contempt for not pitching in for Israel’s security. Essentially Bibi’s coalition partners may quit the government if this comes into effect which could force new elections.
Lemme just grab the world’s smallest piano.
It’s “world’s smallest violin” where I’m from. Are there regional/cultural variations on this saying?
