Conscription of ultra-Orthodox males has long been and continues to be a source of contention in Israeli politics.
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Israeli occupation police try to remove ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting against their exemption from military service (AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested “Israel’s” highest court on Thursday for a further deferral in obligatory military duty for ultra-Orthodox Jews, a matter that has threatened his ruling coalition.
Conscription of ultra-Orthodox males has long been a source of contention in Israeli politics, resulting in a lengthy crisis that included five legislative elections in less than four years.
As the war on Gaza rages on, ultra-Orthodox males may be called up beginning April 1.
However, Netanyahu, who has relied on ultra-Orthodox parties’ backing in previous coalition administrations, has urged the Supreme Court to postpone the deadline for submitting a conscription plan.
The Haredi Jews refuse to be recruited in the IOF on “biblical doctrinal” grounds which has prompted them to protest in occupied al-Quds under the slogan “We’d rather die than serve.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu requested a 30-day postponement to enable more time to reach an accord with his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, who are vehemently opposed to conscription for their group.
The court issued an interim order Thursday, stating that Jewish seminaries would forfeit financing if students without deferrals or exemptions failed to report for military duty.
The court has set a hearing in May to hear arguments against making the ruling final.
Tens of thousands of reservists have been called up for the aggression against Gaza, putting pressure on the occupation’s vast and rising ultra-Orthodox population, which has traditionally been excused from military duty.
Netanyahu says no government without Haredi draft law: Israeli media
The Israeli Kan public broadcaster reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu notified ministers in his Likud party that he won’t give up on the controversial Haredi draft law, as without it there would be no “government”.
Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant has expressed criticism toward his coalition members for their reluctance to display “flexibility” concerning the matter of granting blanket exemptions from the IOF to the ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews, as the deadline for introducing new legislation approaches.
“This coming Tuesday, a proposal for a decision on the recruitment issue will be brought to the government by the prime minister, on his initiative,” he stressed. “My position has not changed. I will not be a party to any proposal that isn’t agreed upon by all coalition factions — and under my leadership, the security system will not submit it for legislation.”
This comes as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid states that war cabinet minister Benny Gantz should pull his National Unity party out of the occupation government if the Haredi draft law is passed this week.
“If the conscription law passes on Tuesday, Gantz and [minister Gadi] Eisenkot should leave the government,” he told the Israeli Kan.
Crises within Israeli decision-making circles keep on mounting as Israeli news outlets reported on Wednesday that Netanyahu is considering the possibility of abolishing the war cabinet and referring decisions to an expanded coalition government, according to Israeli media outlets.
Haredim protest against forced conscription
Internal Israeli disputes have increased on more than one level in parallel with the ongoing Israeli genocide against Gaza for more than five months now as it has failed to achieve its announced “war objectives.”
Amid extreme clashes in positions and opinions regarding the administration of the war and negotiations surrounding the captives deal, Haredi Jews have been clashing with other Israeli settlers in refusal of the Israeli occupation’s law of mandatory conscription with the IOF.
Israeli media reported that demonstrations kicked off on March 16 at the intersection of the “Ra’anana” settlement, north of “Tel Aviv”, and at the Weizmann Institute of Science in the settlement of “Rehovot”, calling for what they called “equality in bearing the burden of war” through the participation of the Haredi Jews in compulsory military service in the Israeli occupation forces.
Israeli media confirmed that protesters blocked the Ayalon Highway in central “Tel Aviv” in protest against the Israeli government, demanding its overthrow.
Protesters from the families of Israeli captives set fires in front of the Ministry of Security in “Tel Aviv” and threatened to “burn Israel if necessary,” while the occupation police arrested settlers during the demonstration.
Thousands took to the streets in Kaplan and in the occupied city of Haifa, where hundreds of people marched and reached the Horev Center in the city in a demonstration calling for progress on a deal to release Israeli captives and for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
