Jerusalem –
A new draft law regarding conscription for ultra-Orthodox Jews, whose support is crucial for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, has sparked uproar in Israel, with the opposition denouncing it as a special privilege for “draft-dodgers.”
Under a ruling established at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, men who devote themselves full-time to studying sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass from mandatory military service.
But this exemption has come under mounting scrutiny from the rest of Israeli society — particularly when tens of thousands of conscripts and reservists are mobilized on several fronts, despite the fragile truce halting the war in Gaza.