Factbox-Israel’s contentious military exemption for ultra-Orthodox community

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) -A dispute over how many members of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Haredi community should serve in the military has destabilised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition. 

The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military service, which applies to most other young Israelis, but last year the Supreme Court ordered the defence ministry to end that practice and start conscripting seminary students. 

The exemption, in place for decades and which over the years has spared an increasingly large number of people, has become a heated topic in Israel with the military still embroiled in a war in Gaza and after defeating Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Two religious parties in Netanyahu’s coalition have demanded a new law to enshrine the status of ultra-Orthodox religious seminary students – a group that has grown significantly over the decades – threatening to vote with the opposition parties and disband parliament if they don’t get their way. 

Here are some facts about the dispute: 

WHAT LIES BEHIND THE 2024 RULING?

The exemptions offered to the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community date back to the early days of the state of Israel in 1948 when its first prime minister, the socialist David Ben-Gurion, exempted about 400 students from military service so they could devote themselves to religious study. In so doing, Ben-Gurion hoped to keep alive sacred knowledge and traditions almost wiped out in the Holocaust.

Since then, the exemptions have become an increasing headache as the fast-growing community has expanded to make up more than 13% of Israel’s population, a proportion expected to reach around a third within 40 years due to a high birth rate.

HOW HAS THIS DIVIDED ISRAELI SOCIETY?

The Haredi resistance to joining the military is based around their strong sense of religious identity, which religious leaders fear risks being weakened by army service.

Some Haredi men do serve in the army but most do not, which many secular Israelis feel is deeply unfair. Living in tight-knit communities and devoting their lives to religious study, many Haredi men do not work, but live off donations, state benefits and the often paltry wages of their wives.

For mainstream Israelis, whose taxes subsidise the Haredim and who are themselves obliged to serve in the military, the exemptions have long bred resentment, and this has grown since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

Many Israelis regard the war against Hamas as an existential battle for the future of the country, and some 300,000 reservists joined up to fight at the start of the war, leaving their families and putting their careers on hold. 

Opinion polls have indicated broad public support for drafting the Haredi.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Netanyahu’s government includes two Haredi parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, whose spiritual leaders are demanding a special status enshrined in law for their young men.

However, some inside Netanyahu’s Likud party have shown unease or outright opposition to blanket exemption. The prime minister is trying to find a compromise deal on a new law that would be consistent with the Supreme Court ruling.

If the deadlock persists, the Haredi parties say they will vote with the opposition to dissolve parliament.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Angus McDowall, Crispian Balmer, William Maclean)