It may not have occurred to David Ben-Gurion 77 years ago, when he approved a limited exemption from military service for a few hundred yeshiva students, that he was sowing the seeds of a crisis that would threaten Israel’s existence. The goal at the time was purely political, as he wanted to integrate the Haredim into the Zionist project. However, the “temporary exemptions” snowballed from individual exemptions to collective exemptions, and then to a system of sacred privileges that the religious parties refuse any change to and which they consider an essential condition for any political alliance.

For years, the spectre of controversy over Haredi military service loomed over Israeli politics. However, the 7 October 2023, attack accelerated the crisis due to the expansion of the aggression on Gaza. Following the intensified confrontations on multiple fronts, the occupation army, which has long boasted its technical capabilities, realised it desperately needed “boots on the ground.” This forced the issue of the Haredi exemption back on to the table, viewing it as blatant discrimination in the name of religion, a practice now opposed by more than 70 per cent of Israelis. Despite attempts at political bypassing, the Supreme Court ruled that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government must respect the principle of equality in performing “national duties” and repeatedly overturned any collective exemption that lacked an explicit legal basis. However, the........

© Middle East Monitor