No specific timeline for submitting these bills has been disclosed, and the government has yet to comment on the matter.
Religious parties in Israel are preparing to introduce a bill to dissolve the Knesset, potentially triggering early elections, according to Hebrew media outlets cited in Al-Jazeera.
This move reportedly stems from ongoing tensions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over the mandatory enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews, or Haredim, into the military – a policy strongly opposed by these parties.
According to the Hebrew newspaper Mishpah and the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (KAN), two proposed bills are in the works.
Yair Lapid: Block Funding and Passports for Haredi Refusing Military Service
The first reportedly addresses compulsory military service, while the second seeks to dissolve the Knesset.
No specific timeline for submitting these bills has been disclosed, and the government has yet to comment on the matter. The current government, formed in late 2022, is slated to remain in power until elections in 2026.
Demanding Exemptions
The Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, representing religious Jews in the coalition, have consistently demanded exemptions for the Haredim from mandatory military service.
Recently, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz announced plans to gradually issue 7,000 recruitment orders to religious Jews, sparking objections from several prominent rabbis.
Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef urged religious students to disregard draft notices, advising them to destroy the orders and warning that denying Torah study could force them to leave the country.
“We did not come to Israel to become secular,” Yosef stated, framing the conscription effort as a “war on the world of Torah.”
Amid Troop Shortage, Israel Issues 720 Arrest Warrants for Ultra-Orthodox Youth – Report
KAN reported assurances from Netanyahu’s allies to the religious parties that legislation would be passed to prevent arrests of those who ignore conscription orders, prior to any arrest warrants being issued.
Meanwhile, religious parties have reportedly intensified their protests, with the newspaper Ha-Mafaser labeling the conscription debate a direct attack on Torah study and urging Haredim to avoid recruitment offices.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling in June mandating the conscription of Haredim, religious communities insist their primary duty is to Torah study and reject military service.
This controversy unfolds alongside the ongoing Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,580 Palestinians have been killed, and 105,739 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
LIVE BLOG: Amnesty Issues Report on Genocide | Famine Ravages Southern Gaza – Day 426
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, AJA)
