Ultra-Orthodox conscription bill threatens crisis for Israeli government

The looming crisis over the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli military threatens to undermine the Israeli government and divide the country.

After two years of war, Israeli public opinion has shifted dramatically on the issue, which may be the most explosive political risk Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now faces.

Lawmakers are currently considering a draft bill that would end an exemption established at the founding of Israel in 1948 for ultra-Orthodox men who attend full-time religious studies.

Nearly two decades ago, Israel’s High Court ruled that this exemption was illegal. Last year, the courts formally ended the interim arrangements that had continued in place, forcing the government to start drafting communities.

Some 24,000 draft notices were issued last year, but only about 1,200 ultra-Orthodox or Orthodox conscripts reported for service, according to military testimony to lawmakers.

Tensions are boiling over in the streets as lawmakers debate a new draft bill that would force ultra-Orthodox men to serve in the military alongside other Israeli Jews.

This month, two Orthodox politicians were targeted by some ultra-Orthodox protesters angry over parliamentary discussions of proposed laws.

Last week, a special border police unit had to rescue gendarmes who were being targeted by a large group of Orthodox men as they tried to arrest a suspected deserter.

The arrests sparked the creation of a new messaging system called “Black Alert” that quickly spreads word among ultra-Orthodox communities and rallies protesters to prevent arrests from occurring.

Efforts to recruit more ultra-Orthodox people also sparked mass protests by tens of thousands of Orthodox men in Jerusalem last month, an issue many see as part of a broader conflict over the identity of the Jewish state and its religious status.

“We are a Jewish state,” said Shmuel Auerbach, one of the protesters. “You can’t fight against Judaism in a Jewish state. It doesn’t work.”

But the changes sweeping Israel have yet to break through the walls of the Jewish seminary in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

In the classroom, teenage boys sit in pairs and discuss Jewish religious laws, their brightly colored school notebooks standing out against rows of white shirts and small black kippahs (traditional skullcaps).

“Come at one in the morning and you’ll see half the people studying Torah,” Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, the dean of the yeshiva, told me. According to his office, this was his first interview with foreign media or any female reporter. “By studying Torah, we can protect our soldiers wherever they are. This is our military.”

The ultra-Orthodox believe that constant prayer and religious study protect Israel’s soldiers and are as critical to its military success as tanks and air force. Rabbi Mazouz said this belief has been embraced by Israeli politicians in the past, but acknowledged that Israel is changing.

“Today, many people in government and parliament have distanced themselves from religion. They say yeshiva students are lazy, which is not true,” he said. “In Tel Aviv, there are tens of thousands of draft evaders – why don’t they take them away? Why do they attack yeshiva students?”

Despite attacks from the right, Tel Aviv was the place where the largest number of soldiers were sent during the war. The pressures on Israel’s conscripts and reservists over the past two years have put a spotlight on those who are not serving.

The ultra-Orthodox share of Israel’s population has more than doubled over the past 70 years and currently accounts for 14 percent. What started as an exemption for hundreds of religious students, by the time the war in Gaza broke out, some 60,000 men were excluded from the draft.

Opinion polls show support for ultra-Orthodox military conscription is rising. A July survey by the Israel Democracy Institute think tank found that 85% of non-Orthodox Jews – including nearly three-quarters of Netanyahu’s own right-wing Likud party – support sanctions against those who refuse conscription, with a clear majority supporting the removal of benefits, passports or voting rights.

“It makes me feel like there are people living in this country who don’t give anything in return,” explained an off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv.

“I think no matter how religious you are, it should not be an excuse not to serve your country,” said Gabi, a young woman also living in Tel Aviv. “If you were born here, I think it’s ridiculous that you would want to exempt yourself just to study Torah all day long.”

Support for extending the draft also comes from religious Jews outside the Orthodox community, such as Dorit Barak, who lives near the yeshiva in Bnei Brak and points out that non-Orthodox religious Jews do serve in the military and also study Torah.

“I’m very angry that ultra-Orthodox people don’t join the military,” she said. “It’s not fair. I believe in the Torah too, but there’s a saying in Hebrew – ‘Safra and Saifa’ – which means the Torah and the guns together. That’s the way forward until the day of peace comes.”

Ms. Barak installed a small memorial in Bnei Brak to local religious and secular soldiers who died during Israel’s wars. A long row of faces looks out from the black-and-white photos that line the back wall.

The last soldier in the area died in 1983, which she said was a sign of Israel’s changing demographics.

“It completely changed,” she said. “When I was a child, almost half of the residents here had no religion and a small minority were ultra-Orthodox. Today, almost everyone is ultra-Orthodox and no soldiers have been killed since 1983 because no one is serving in the military.”

There are currently a small number of ultra-Orthodox men who have chosen to serve in special forces and police forces. But Benjamin Netanyahu said at the opening of the winter session of parliament in October that the new draft bill would recruit 10,000 yeshiva students over two years, which he described as “a true revolution”.

The ultra-Orthodox party is a key ally in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition and as he seeks political survival as he faces trial on corruption charges, which he denies. A key demand in return for their loyalty is the continued exemption of their supporters from military service.

The issue has twice brought down Netanyahu’s government in the past.

A draft bill currently before parliament attempts to find a solution to the problem, or at least buy time for next year’s elections.

“A balanced law, a good law, a law that is good for the military, good for yeshiva students, good for the Israeli people (and) good for the country,” said lawmaker Boaz Bismuth, a Netanyahu loyalist who led the bill through parliament.

But many lawmakers, including those in the ruling coalition, said this week that the current draft bill was too lax and that neither they nor the courts would approve it.

The current text appears to largely maintain the status quo, conscripting only ultra-Orthodox men who are not engaged in full-time religious studies and lifting all sanctions for deserters after turning 26.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, called the draft text a “disgrace” and “betrayal” and vowed not to pass it.

Even some within Netanyahu’s own Likud party refused to support it.

Former national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, who was recently fired by Netanyahu, described it as “a tool of escape that jeopardizes the future of the country,” adding that he and his four sons had all served long periods in the military.

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties are divided over whether to acknowledge growing pressure for change, but the hardline Deger Hatora party in the ruling coalition is reportedly considering backing the current text, a move seen as evidence of the bill’s leniency.

Asked whether it was better to support this version of the bill or risk overthrowing Benjamin Netanyahu entirely, Rabbi Mazouz avoided giving a specific answer.

“The world is guided by God,” he said. “When (U.S. President Donald) Trump didn’t win a second term (in 2020), I and millions of people were hurt. Why would God do this?”

“But he knows the future and knows Hamas’s plans. God wants Trump to be in power in the meantime,” he added, referring to the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza war.

Rabbi Mazouz pointed to the religious manuscripts—hundreds of years old—lining his office.

“Between us, prisons in Israel are not the same as prisons in Russia, thank God. We will get through this too. But I hope we don’t get to this point.”

The Orthodox way of life has changed little over the centuries, but they and their political allies are now locked in a debate over what it means to be Jewish and Israeli, and whether that means fighting for Israel, or fighting for their way of life against the demands of modern warfare.

Additional reporting by Oren Rosenfeld and Samantha Glanville