Netanyahu is trying to reach a settlement in the issue of recruiting ultra-Orthodox Jews (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Supreme Court in Israel yesterday, Thursday, to extend the deadline available to the government, which ends on March 31, to develop a new plan for compulsory conscription that would address the prevailing anger over the exemptions granted to religious Jews (Haredim).

The decades-old controversy has become a particularly sensitive issue at a time when Israeli forces, mostly made up of young conscripts and civilians mobilized into reserve forces, have continued an aggressive war for nearly 6 months in Gaza to try to eliminate the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The Supreme Court has not yet responded to Netanyahu's request, but it separately ruled to suspend government support for religious Jews of military age who study in religious institutes instead of performing military service, as of next April.

The two ultra-Orthodox parties in the National Religious Coalition led by Netanyahu, the United Torah Judaism party and Shas, denounced the decision to suspend support, and pledged to fight for what they considered the “right” of their voters to remain in religious institutes, but they stopped short of threatening to withdraw from the seminary. the government.

Intensifying the pressure, Prosecutor Gali Bahrav Meara wrote in a memorandum submitted to the court that she saw no legal basis to postpone the imposition of mandatory conscription for religious Jews any longer.

Demonstrators brought some animals near Netanyahu's office in occupied Jerusalem to demand the enactment of a law requiring Haredi Jews to serve in the army (Reuters)

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Religious Jews, the fastest growing religious minority in Israel, enjoy an exemption from mandatory conscription in order to direct members of the minority to religious institutes. But the Supreme Court overturned this exemption in 2018 to achieve the principle of equality, and Parliament failed to reach a new arrangement.

Among those who favor reviewing the exemption are Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other members of Netanyahu's government concerned with the conduct of the war. They expect the war in Gaza to continue for months, which would exhaust manpower and fuel popular demands for summonses on the grounds of justice and equality.

But the ultra-Orthodox parties in the ruling coalition, whose support the conservative Netanyahu has long sought, want to keep the exemptions as a way to preserve the religious lifestyle of their voters.

In a letter to the Supreme Court published by Netanyahu's office, the prime minister said he had "made significant progress on the draft plan" but requested a 30-day extension "in order to formulate agreements," saying the war against Hamas had dominated the government's attention and was now at a decisive stage.

Religious Jews constitute 13% of Israel's population of 10 million people, and the percentage is expected to reach 19% by 2035, due to their high birth rates.

Israeli economists say the exemption unnecessarily keeps some in yeshivas out of the workforce, increasing Social Security burdens on middle-class taxpayers.

Source: Reuters