Ultra-Orthodox Jews will be financially penalized for refusing to serve in the army, Israel's Supreme Court has ruled
The Supreme Court of Israel ordered on Sunday the state authorities to apply financial sanctions to the ultra-orthodox Jews who refuse the mandatory enlistment in the armed forces, reports AFP, taken over by Agerpres.
The court showed that “in the absence of concrete measures that indicate the will to act to enforce compliance with the obligation to incorporate (…) there is no other option than to order operational measures, which represent nothing more than the direct application of the law”.
The Israeli government should have obtained a vote in parliament on a law on the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are largely exempt from military service. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, depends on ultra-Orthodox political allies to stay in power and has so far delayed the adoption of the legislative text, thus favoring a bill in the opposite direction, known as the “desertion law”, which allows the ultra-Orthodox to skip military service.
Currently, in the context of Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, tens of thousands of Israelis are conscripted, and many reservists remain mobilized against the Islamist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, while students of Talmudic schools are practically exempted from the obligation to serve in the armed forces.
The ultra-Orthodox are automatically summoned for incorporation, but most of them refuse to show up and are not sanctioned in any way for it, despite the legal provisions.
The Supreme Court requested that they be removed from financial facilities such as those regarding local taxes and public transport or subsidies for nurseries.
Arie Dery, the leader of the largest ultra-Orthodox party, Shas, accused the court of “seriously affecting (…) the very foundations of the existence of the Jewish people in Israel.”
Ever since the creation of the Jewish state, in 1948, the ultra-orthodox are de facto exempt from military service, provided that they fully devote themselves to the study of Hebrew religious texts (Torah) in a religious school (yeshiva). They currently represent about 14% of the Jewish population in Israel, about 66,000 of whom are of draft age.
