The Israeli military has issued draft notices for military service to 1,000 members of the country's ultra-Orthodox community, Reuters reported. The agency noted that it was a move intended to bolster the ranks of the army, but which could further inflame tensions between Israel's religious and secular communities.
Last month, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the Ministry of Defense can no longer exempt students in Jewish seminaries from conscription, BTA recalls. This concept has been in place since the creation of Israel in 1948, when the number of ultra-Orthodox, also called Haredi, was small.
The new policy shift has met with opposition from the two far-right religious parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, putting the ruling right-wing coalition under serious pressure amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Leaders of the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community say forcing seminarians to serve alongside secular Israelis, including women, risks destroying their identity as religious Jews. Some rabbis urged anyone in their community who received a summons to burn it.
However, not all Haredi refuse to serve. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has created a number of units for ultra-orthodox Jews.
Haredi recruits who are already in the system and have not requested exemptions reported for military service, although they hoped that a middle ground could be reached.
Other members of more religious Haredi communities said they would never agree to serve in the army. "Anyone who does not understand the value of education cannot understand why the Haredi do not want to be called up for military service," said David Mizrahi, a 22-year-old seminary student from Jerusalem. Forcing the issue will deepen the dispute around it, he added.
Following the first round of conscription calls, additional calls are expected to go out in the coming weeks, initially for a total of 3,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish conscripts.
The government is still trying to pass the conscription law, which could potentially receive limited support, and resolve the issue before it threatens stability in the ruling coalition.
However, with Israeli troops still fighting in Gaza, more than nine months after the Palestinian militant group "Hamas" attack on towns and kibbutzim in southern Israel on October 7, and the growing threat of war in Lebanon, pressure from the army and secular Israelis to share the burden of military service has grown sharply, Reuters notes.
By law, Israelis are required to serve in the army for a total of between 24 and 32 months. Members of Israel's 21 percent Arab minority are exempt from military service, although some serve in the army. For their part, ultra-Orthodox Jewish followers have also been exempted from military service since the creation of Israel in 1948.