Here are a few words on the matter:
The "Security Service Law" states that every Jewish Israeli citizen aged 18 is required to enlist in the army. Muslims are not obliged to enlist, but they can volunteer to serve.
As of now, there is no longer any legal basis for delaying the service in the army of 18 year old Ultra-Orthodox. The arrangement in the "Defense Service Law", which anchored the deferment of their service, expired at the end of June 2023, and since then the IDF no longer grants deferment of service. In order to prevent the immediate recruitment of Ultra-Orthodox, the government decided on June 25, 2023 to instruct the Minister of Defense not to take procedures for their recruitment. This decision was limited in time, until the end of March 2024.
The government's decision to extend the validity, besides being controversial, expires at the end of the month (March 24). The government should draw up an agreed outline for the law and explain to the Supreme Court why it does not start recruiting the ultra-Orthodox.
The fact that the IDF stopped granting deferment of service to 18 year old Ultra-Orthodox created another problem, which may seem minor but is actually substantial, and that is the lack of a legal basis for budgeting the Torah institutions where yeshiva members study.
The support in Torah institutions is determined according to the number of students and a condition for this is that the students are those whose service has been rejected (or who have been exempted from service). In light of the fact that from July 2023 the IDF stopped granting deferment of service toUltra-Orthodox who have not yet reached the age of exemption, there is no authorization in the law that allows the budgets to be transferred to the Torah institutions where yeshiva members under the age of 26 study.
The ultra-orthodox currently make up 14% of the population and a quarter of the over all draft, but in 2050 they are expected to be a quarter of the population and 41% of the over all draft.
Photo: "We"ll die before we join the army" - https://www.ynet.co.il/news/article/s1wmwzgtt
