This got lost in last week’s news cycle because...Well, you know why. But the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the Israeli government must start drafting Haredi (Who some outside of Jewish circles call the ultra orthodox Jews. Yes, I know that is a meaningless label in Israel). For those not in the know, Haredi men in Israel were exempt from military service since the founding of the state of Israel, and they also get a stipend from the government to live off of (Most do not have jobs because they claim their job is to study the Torah and pray, which is what they get paid to do). But it appears that is all coming to an end.
In a landmark ruling on Tuesday, the High Court of Justice ruled unanimously that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there is no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.
The court ruled that a government decision from June 2023 instructing the army not to begin drafting eligible Haredi men — issued after the law allowing for blanket military service exemptions expired — was illegal, and that the government must therefore actively work to conscript ultra-Orthodox recruits to the IDF.
The justices made clear that they were not telling the state how many Haredi yeshiva students to draft how quickly, and indicated that the process could be gradual, but they warned the government that it must begin now.
The court ruling also permanently barred the state from funding ultra-Orthodox yeshivas for students who are studying in them in lieu of military service, asserting that those funds were bound up in the terms of the IDF service exemptions which now no longer exist.
Why is this important? Besides the blatant inequality of the now illegal military exemption, there are several members of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s coalition who represent the Haredi community. And their constituents are hopping mad that they are now eligible for the draft.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Jewish ultra-Orthodox men clashed with Israeli police in central Jerusalem on Sunday during a protest against a Supreme Court order for them to begin enlisting for military service...
Tens of thousands of men rallied in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to protest the order. But after nightfall, the crowd made its way toward central Jerusalem and turned violent.
Israeli police said protesters threw rocks and attacked the car of an ultra-Orthodox Cabinet minister, pelting it with stones. Water cannons filled with skunk-scented water and police mounted on horses were used to disperse the crowd. But the demonstration was still not under control late Sunday.
Nothing like so called religious and pious men rioting in the streets. Can someone tell me where in the Torah it says, “Rioting is OK with God”? And you know you have to be seriously pissed off to keep rioting when made to smell like a skunk sprayed you. I have been in a car that was sprayed by a skunk, and Mother Nature has designed a great defense mechanism for skunks!
But I digress.
As pointed out in one of the links above, the Haredi are scared that their way of life is in danger. Exposure to their fellow Israeli’s will corrupt the young men, and they will abandon the Haredi way of life. Well, it is the argument their rabbis are using to argue against military service.
This attitude has caused a lot of resentment from other Israelis. The burden of military service falls on the rest of the population, and it’s not like Israel has a vast reserve of young men and women to draw on during a war. If I am not mistaken, serving in the reserves after active duty is compulsary for all other Israelis, and a bunch of those currently fighting against Hamas are men and women who have to leave their families and careers as a sacrifice in defense of Israel.
According to the Times of Israel, there are approximately 63,000 Haredi men who are eligible for military service.
So what about those politicians who represent the Haredi? Some have made noises that they will quit Netanyahu’s government if he imposes a military draft on Haredi men. Others have said they won’t quit. But what will those lovely rioting Haredi men do? It doesn’t sound like they will accept their leaders sign off on being drafted by the Israeli military.
Frankly, I know I am not the only one who wants to see an issue like this lead to the fall of Netanyahu’s government. Bibi is a war criminal who wants the war to continue because he knows once it is over, there will be an election. And his ass is grass and the Israeli voters are the lawn mower. Therefore, eternal war is what Bibi is up to.
And what better way to continue the war than to starve to death a million or so Palestinians? Yes Netanyahu, you move up to genocidal maniac, but you ensure that there will be NEW RECRUITS FOR HAMAS! And Netanyahu has proclaimed that he will only consider the war won when Hamas is destroyed, which will never happen with the genocide of Palestinians.
The only way forward to at least a cease fire is for Netanyahu to go. Maybe the Israeli Supreme Court ruling striking down the Haredi exemption to the military draft will force the fall of Netanyahu’s government? I cannot predict that with any certainty. But I hope that it will.