As Israel’s war with Hamas stretches on, the country is facing a growing internal crisis over military service exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox. With the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) urgently calling for reinforcements and the High Court of Justice striking down past deferral laws, the government is under pressure to formulate a new draft bill. But as Gabriel Colodro reports [1], political stalemates and cultural divides are making consensus difficult—and public anger is rising.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid told The Media Line that the current government is “paying people to dodge” service, citing an estimate that benefits for non-serving ultra-Orthodox men could total 120 billion shekels. MK Matan Kahana echoed that frustration, saying the government is “rewarding” refusal to serve while reservists and their families suffer. He added that change must start by treating ultra-Orthodox men as individuals, not a bloc.
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Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, from the Netzah Yehuda nonprofit organization that supports Haredi participation in the IDF, criticized the court’s intervention, saying it blocks compromise. He acknowledged that distrust between the army and ultra-Orthodox communities runs deep but emphasized that both sides are shifting. “Since October 7, the IDF has been making a real effort,” he said, citing new culturally sensitive programs like KOD-CODE. He also rejected the argument that full-time Torah study is equivalent to military service.
As Colodro notes in his reporting, some ultra-Orthodox are already serving, and religious leaders are increasingly open to dialogue. But Lapid warned that if the government doesn’t act, the public backlash will only intensify.
To understand the full scope of this growing divide—and the ideas being floated to resolve it—read Gabriel Colodro’s full report [1].