IDF to Draft 3,000 Yeshiva Students Following Supreme Court Ruling

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Responding to a ruling by Israel’s Supreme Court last month that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) must immediately begin drafting previously exempt Yeshiva students, the IDF has submitted a plan to issue draft orders to 3,000 ultra-Orthodox men of military age, i24News reported on Monday.

Before the June 25 Supreme Court ruling, ultra-Orthodox men studying at Yeshiva were exempt from the mandatory conscription affecting all other Jewish Israeli communities (Arab and Druze communities are not required to serve in the IDF, but may choose to do so). The exemption dates back to the beginning of the modern state of Israel.

While the issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription has long been hotly debated in Israel, the matter came to a boil as the country became entrenched in a prolonged war against Hamas in Gaza, i24News. Faced with exhausted troops – and an intensifying threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon – the IDF stated it needed more soldiers.

Responding to the crisis, the Supreme Court ruled that state funding should be halted for Yeshiva students who refuse the draft, i24News reports.

In a unanimous ruling, the high court justices explained: “While in 1949 the number of yeshiva students who did not enlist was limited and stood at only about 400 yeshiva students, over the years, ‘quantity has turned into quality’ and today, the number of yeshiva students is on a completely different magnitude. According to the data presented by the state, at the end of June 2023, the number stood at about 63 thousand students.”

The decision has angered the Shas and United Torah Judaism ultra-Orthodox parties in PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s slim-majority governing coalition.

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