Israel’s Supreme Court Rules Military Must Draft Ultra-Orthodox Men

Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for military service.  The ruling announced today seeks to overturn a longstanding practice under which Jewish seminary students are exempt from conscription.

The decision threatens to destabilise the government, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition reliant on religiously conservative parties that oppose the move.   Leaders of those parties said



they were disappointed with the ruling but issued no immediate threat to the government.

The law governing the exemption for seminary students expired last year but the government continued to allow them not to serve. The court said that in the absence of a new law that distinguishes between Jewish seminary students and other draftees, Israel’s compulsory military service applies to ultra-Orthodox men like any other citizen