The ruling coalition led by Netanyahu includes Likud and religious parties (Reuters)

Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth said - today, Wednesday - that the religious parties in the ruling coalition threatened to withdraw in the event of adopting a new conscription law that abolishes the exemption enjoyed by religious Jews (Haredim), thus exacerbating the differences within Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and threatening its disintegration.

The newspaper added that the religious Jewish parties are threatening to withdraw from the government if the percentage of those who will be forced to conscript is determined in the draft law that the government is trying to pass.

She continued that the government's judicial advisor announced that she would not defend the law exempting religious Jews from military service, without specifying a clear percentage and quota for the number of those who will be conscripted.

For its part, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted the leaders of the Haredi parties as saying - during a meeting with Netanyahu - that the demands to put an end to the exemption of religious people from military service contradict the agreement to form the coalition.

Haredi leaders added that there is a fear that the rabbis will ask them to withdraw from the government if a new law abolishing the exemption is passed.

While the religious parties oppose compromising the principle of exempting religious people from military service, ministers including War Council member Benny Gantz, Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and opposition leader Yair Lapid are calling for an end to this exemption.

Last Sunday, War Council member Benny Gantz threatened to withdraw if the Knesset approved a draft law maintaining the exemption of religious people from military conscription, and from Washington, Gallant announced that he would not support the draft law in its current form that maintains the exemption of the Haredim from military service.

As for the opposition leader, he attacked Netanyahu and the conscription law in its current form, and Lapid called on members of the Likud Party to oppose the proposed law, which he described as a conscription evasion law.

Gantz, a member of the War Council, says that he will leave the emergency government if the new conscription law is passed, stressing that the conscription law in its current form will not be able to be tolerated by the people #News #Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/gth698BsOs

- Al Jazeera Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) March 25, 2024

Leaks and modifications

The details of the proposed conscription draft law have not yet been revealed, but parts of it leaked to the Israeli media indicated that it would maintain the exemption and perhaps even expand it.

The draft law also downplays the economic losses in Israel due to the decades-long exemption policy, which leading economists have repeatedly warned has a high price.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Netanyahu proposed in his meeting with the government's legal advisor to recruit 2,500 Haredim annually, while the Walla website revealed that army leaders explained to Gallant the army's need for at least 20,000 soldiers.

For its part, Haaretz newspaper revealed earlier that the government session dedicated to discussing the conscription law had been postponed without setting a new date for its holding in light of the Haredi opposition to conscription.

According to military officials, the army needs to recruit more soldiers “in light of the increasing threats” based on intelligence estimates about the possibility of escalation on the northern front.

In this context, Israeli Channel 13 said that dozens of army reserve commanders informed Netanyahu that the broad outlines of the conscription law seriously harm the security of the state.

The ultra-Orthodox religious parties, whose members represent about 13% of the total number of Jews in Israel, were partners in successive governments led by Netanyahu, and they demand that their voters be allowed to study in Talmudic institutes instead of serving in the army.

Since 2017, successive governments have failed to reach a consensus law regarding the recruitment of Haredim, after the Supreme Court annulled a law enacted in 2015, which ruled to exempt them from military service, considering that it violates the “principle of equality.”

Source: Al Jazeera