Israeli Government Asks High Court for More Time for Plan to Conscript Orthodox Jews

Jerusalem, 1 May, 2024 (TPS) -- As a court-imposed deadline passed, the Israeli government told the High Court of Justice on Wednesday it needed more time to formulate a plan for drafting Orthodox men into military service.

A government filing with the court said the Defense Ministry and military are “formulating action plans…to implement ultra-Orthodox recruitment in the immediate future [and] actions that will also affect recruitment in the longer term.”

While the High Court’s next hearing on the matter is scheduled for June 2, the government asked for an extension of several weeks.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the government on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling for “mandatory service for everyone,” and adding, “stop wasting time and draft the ultra-Orthodox immediately.”

Military service is compulsory for all Israeli citizens. However, Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and the country’s leading rabbis agreed to a status quo that deferred military service for Orthodox men studying in yeshivot, or religious institutions. At the time, no more than several hundred men were studying in yeshivot.

However, the Orthodox community has grown significantly since Israel’s founding. In January 2023, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Haredim are Israel’s fastest-growing community and projected it would constitute 16% of the population by the end of the decade. According to the Israel Democracy Institute, the number of yeshiva students exceeded 138,000 in 2021.

That demographic growth has fueled passionate debates about “sharing the burden” of military service, the status of religious study in a Jewish society, and Haredi integration.

Haredi political leaders have threatened to quit the governing coalition if the High Court imposes conscription. But Haredi attitudes towards military service have shifted since Hamas’s October 7 attacks.