Security forces operate as Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men protest after Israel's Supreme Court convened to discuss petitions to change government policy that grants ultra-Orthodox Jews exemptions from military conscription, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near Israel's Supreme Court in Jerusalem, June 2, 2024.
Netanyahu’s coalition relies for its survival on two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard longstanding conscription exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and away from a melting-pot military that might test their conservative customs. The ultra-Orthodox conscription waiver has become especially charged as Israel’s armed forces, made up mostly of teenaged conscripts and older civilians mobilised for reserve duty, are overstretched by a multi-front war, in Gaza and Lebanon.
“At the height of a difficult war, the burden of inequality is more than ever acute,” the court’s unanimous ruling said.Most Israelis are bound by law to serve in the military, whereas ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students have been largely exempt for decades. — Reuters