https://arab.news/84mvd
There is hardly a more contentious issue in Israeli society than military service, or more accurately, the draft dodging by Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, youth. The vitriol has increased over the last two years since Israel has been engaged in multifront wars.
For many decades now politicians have been doing what they do best — resolving the unfair exemption of enlisting Haredi youth by kicking the can down the road. What started with exempting 400 yeshiva, or rabbinical seminar, scholars to allow them to focus on becoming the future generation of religious leaders in their communities has become a route for all youth from this community to evade compulsory military service for most 18-year-olds, which means three years for men and two years for women.
Two more recent developments have heightened the urgency of the question of enlisting ultra-Orthodox youth: one legal, the other practical. Legally, the clause in the Law for Security Service, which granted blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, expired in mid-2023, and the following year, the High Court ruled that the government was, therefore, obligated to begin drafting them, as continuing their exemption was unlawful.
