A day after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition appeared to be holding, though at least one far-right party expressed deep reservations about the court decision. The ruling had for months been viewed as potentially perilous for Netanyahu because his six-party coalition depends on ultra-Orthodox parties that are opposed to conscription for their constituents. But so far, there was little sign that the decision would jeopardize the coalition in the short term. There was no immediate comment on the ruling from one of the most prominent far-right ministers, Bezalel Smotrich. Some politicians connected to the coalition criticized the ruling, but did not say whether it might lead them to pull out of the government. Military service is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis, both men and women, and the exemption for the ultra-Orthodox has long been a source of resentment. That resentment has grown because of the strain placed on the Israel Defense Forces by the war in the Gaza Strip, which has entered its ninth month. On Tuesday, judges said there was no legal basis for a military exemption given to ultra-Orthodox religious students. Without a law distinguishing between seminarians and other men of draft age, the court ruled, the country’s mandatory draft laws must similarly apply to the ultra-Orthodox minority. In reaction to the ruling, Rabbi Shlomo Benizri, who had served in previous governments and is an influential member of the Sephardic Shas party, a coalition member that appeals to Israelis from the Middle East and North Africa, said the military must ensure that provisions are made for yeshiva students who are drafted as a result of the ruling. These arrangements must “create the appropriate atmosphere and spiritual greenhouse for them, and then they can be drafted,” he said in an interview on Israel’s Kan radio, without elaborating. One resolution could be that his party negotiates with the government on government payments to facilitate Torah study. Meir Porush, the Jerusalem affairs and heritage minister, reserved his disappointment for the court, rather than the government, saying the decision left ultra-Orthodox Jews legally defenseless. “We feel today we have no protection in the corridors of the courts,” said Porush, a member of the United Torah Judaism party, in an opinion piece in the Hameveser newspaper, which is widely read by the ultra-Orthodox. “There is no one who understands how fundamental it is to sit and meditate on the Torah.” Smotrich, the settler activist who serves as finance minister in the government, had no immediate comment on the ruling, a spokesperson said. Ultra-Orthodox Jews have been exempt from military service since the founding of Israel in 1948, when the country’s leadership promised them autonomy in exchange for their support in creating a largely secular state. At the time, there were only a few hundred yeshiva students. There are now more than 1 million ultra-Orthodox in Israel, roughly 13% of the population. They wield considerable political clout and their elected leaders have become kingmakers, featuring in most Israeli coalition governments. But as the power of the ultra-Orthodox grew, so did anger over their lack of participation in the military and their relatively small contribution to the economy.
