{"id":655301,"date":"2026-10-24T00:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T00:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655301\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T00:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T00:46:20","slug":"ultra-orthodox-conscription-debate-ignites-israels-election-battleground-israel-election-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655301\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultra-Orthodox conscription debate ignites Israel\u2019s election battleground | Israel Election 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the fallout of multi-fronted wars and demands for accountability over security failures to mounting concerns over the cost of living, Israelis are grappling with a series of crises ahead of the October 27 election<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet one contentious issue has come to dominate headlines during the campaign: whether Israel\u2019s ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority should serve in the military.<\/p>\n

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An estimated 80,000 ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men aged between 18 and 24 are currently avoiding military service, a figure whose significance grows with every report of staff shortages in the Israeli army.<\/p>\n

For their political supporters in the Knesset\u2019s Haredi Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) parties, they are helping preserve the essential character of Israel through Torah study and prayer.<\/p>\n

But for their detractors, they are draft dodgers refusing to undertake their share in the multiple wars Israel has embarked upon in the wake of the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

Critics include the self-styled Zionist opposition bloc<\/a> that is locked in a tight race with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>\u2018s Likud Party and the far-right coalition it leads.<\/p>\n

In May, as Haredi anger over the jailing of draft evaders spilled into street protests following a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men, the issue proved toxic enough to threaten Netanyahu\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

His ruling coalition has relied on the support of the Haredi parties in return for softening measures aimed at forcing their supporters to serve in the army. But after Netanyahu told the parties that he lacked the votes to pass an exemption bill, they pushed to dissolve the Knesset and effectively weakened the government.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice use mounted units against ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting military conscription in April, a month before the parties representing them moved to bring down Israel\u2019s ruling coalition [Abir Sultan\/EPA]<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said he opposed the arrest of 40 Haredim \u2013 plural for Haredi \u2013 who were taken in for evading the draft after returning to Israel from the United States, despite a law this year meant to temporarily halt such arrests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must preserve the world of Torah because it preserved us,\u201d Netanyahu told the Haredi Kol Barama radio station. \u201cThese arrests are a deliberate attempt to harm the process of drafting Haredim without coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, how well Netanyahu\u2019s comments will land with the rest of the population is unclear, with the issue seen as offering an opportunity for those seeking to oust him as well as opening up divisions within his own base.<\/p>\n

A September poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found an overwhelming 72 percent wanted to see the Haredim drafted alongside other Israelis eligible for military service.<\/p>\n

In early October, a group of Haredim clashed with Israeli forces seeking to arrest a draft dodger in Modi\u2019in, drawing condemnation from Netanyahu\u2019s opponents. Former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, whose Yashar (\u201cstraight\u201d or \u201chonest\u201d) party currently holds a narrow lead over Netanyahu\u2019s Likud, described the incident as reflecting \u201cthe same dangerous world view that seeks to make draft evasion the norm and portray those who fulfil their duty to the state as suckers\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThat is what the upcoming election is about: Netanyahu\u2019s draft-dodging government, or a government of conscription led by me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ultra-OrthodoxUltra-Orthodox Jewish men gather on and below the Chords Bridge during the \u2018Million Man\u2019 protest against Israeli military conscription in Jerusalem, October 30, 2025 [Ammar Awad\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Critics of the Haredim\u2019s refusal to serve have even found voice within Netanyahu\u2019s party, with Likud lawmakers arguing the issue of ultra-Orthodox non-conscription could pose a threat to the future of the State of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a paradox,\u201d said Daniel Bar-Tal, a professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, the issue of equal service unites all the secular and Zionist religious public,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the other side, the ultra-Orthodox are rightist \u2026 This does not go together, so [Netanyahu] has a dilemma.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite popular anger over the refusal to serve, and the potential consequences for their allies in the Knesset who are striving to protect that exemption, Haredi intransigence shows no sign of easing.<\/p>\n

The two Haredi parties \u2013 Shas and UTJ \u2013 have ruled out joining any coalition that does not pass laws exempting members of their community from military service, even if it makes forming any coalition sympathetic to the ultra-Orthodox impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big deal,\u201d said Israeli pollster Mitchell Barak. \u201cThe opposition parties are trying to pitch the election as the draft dodgers versus those who protect and serve \u2013\u00a0 and that is the decisive point of the election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politically toxic<\/p>\n

Next week\u2019s polls are the first<\/a> since Israel\u2019s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip began in October 2023, killing nearly 74,400 people and leaving most of the besieged territory in ruins, as well as the multiple conflicts across the region that followed it.<\/p>\n

The military campaigns have placed a big burden<\/a> on the state\u2019s finances, with the high cost of living being a major source of public discontent ahead of the polls. Higher taxes have added to the economic pressure, with surveys showing that families of reservists deployed to Israel\u2019s war zones face increased emotional and psychological strain, alongside stagnant household incomes.<\/p>\n

According to an August survey, 42 percent of Israelis said their finances had worsened since the war on Gaza began three years ago, with the families of reservists hit hardest.<\/p>\n

That squeeze comes as the Haredi population keeps expanding, with 1.26 million, or 12.5 percent of Israelis identified as Haredi. Projections suggest that by 2065, somewhere between 20 percent and a third of the population\u00a0will be Haredi, with a large portion refusing to either work or serve in the army in place of Torah study.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great burden of having to serve became much more pronounced \u2013 and at the same time the Haredi sector keeps growing,\u201d said Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute, \u201cwhich means that a large cohort of potential soldiers does not ease the burden on others.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe blunt refusal of Haredi leaders to even consider a change in times of such dangers demonstrated to many Israelis that this community is one that depends on Israel financially and otherwise contributes little.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the fallout of multi-fronted wars and demands for accountability over security failures to mounting concerns over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,4410,85,46,286552,44,47,43,238,7319],"class_list":["post-655301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-elections","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-election-2026","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}