This week, the Israeli government announced that it will begin conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men starting Sunday for the first time in the country's 76-year history.
The statement came more than a month after Israel's Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the military must begin conscripting ultra-Orthodox men into the army, ending a long-standing political agreement that exempted them from mandatory military service.
The ruling threatens to antagonize large segments of the community, who argue that serving in the military threatens their way of life.
Moreover, the forced enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men could destabilise Israel's far-right coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ultra-Orthodox parties in Netanyahu's coalition oppose the move and their communities are protesting in the streets.
Any ultra-Orthodox party pulling out of the coalition could trigger early elections at a time when Netanyahu's popularity is at an all-time low.
The army will begin sending 3,000 conscription orders to ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 26 on Sunday ahead of their enlistment in 2025, local media reported.
So who are Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews and why are they so opposed to conscription?
Who are the ultra-Orthodox in Israel?
Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews, often referred to in Hebrew as Haredim (Haredi in the singular), are Israel's most religious demographic and tend to separate themselves from mainstream society to devote themselves to prayer and worship.
The movement dates back to 19th century Europe as a reaction to the modern world and the fear that it would distract them from their devotion to their religion.
Some analysts have described Haredim as generally more devoted to their way of life than to Zionism, a political ideology that initially called for the establishment of an ethno-Jewish state in Palestine and now focuses on the protection of Israel as a Jewish country.
Ori Goldberg, an Israeli political commentator, said the ultra-Orthodox have generally taken a neutral, even tolerant, stance toward Palestinians.
“For them, the sanctity of life was considered more important than the sanctity of the land,” he told Al Jazeera. “It is not about settling in a territory. It is more important [for them] “Let the Jews live.”
Why do ultra-Orthodox people not want to serve in the military?
Well, you risk disrupting your way of life.
Even before the State of Israel was created following the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 – an event known as the Nakba – an exemption was agreed for ultra-Orthodox Jews.
A small number of students were not required to serve in the military if they dedicated their lives to studying Jewish holy books in religious schools, known as yeshivot, which depend on state funding.
Over time, ultra-Orthodox Israelis became a significant part of the population due to their high birth rate. In 2023, the group consisted of 1.3 million people in Israel, or about 13 percent of the population.
Every year, some 13,000 ultra-Orthodox men reach conscription age, but 90 percent of them do not enlist.
“Ultra-Orthodox communities have tended to actively resist recruitment in the [military] “This is because of the way they perceive their relationship with the state of Israel… but also because of the sense that it is not their conflict with the Palestinians,” said Hugh Lovatt, an Israel-Palestine expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “This is still the case in most cases today.”
Do other Israelis want ultra-Orthodox to serve in the military?
Yes, and they have done so for many years.
Secular Israelis have long believed that they have shouldered the burden of protecting the country by serving in the occupied West Bank and participating in Israel's numerous wars in Gaza.
For years, Israel has tried to rely less on recruits by waging a technological “smart” war consisting of aerial bombardment and siege. But since the Hamas-led attacks on Israeli communities and military posts on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and 250 taken prisoner, Israel has needed more reserves and personnel for its war in the Gaza Strip.
The war in Gaza has been going on for more than nine months and has killed at least 38,848 Palestinians and uprooted almost the entire population. Some 600 Israeli soldiers have also been killed in combat and there is growing resentment that the ultra-Orthodox do not send their young men to “defend Israel,” according to Eyal Lurie-Paredes, an expert on Israel and Palestine at the Middle East Institute think tank.
“It is important to note that the issue of ultra-Orthodox recruitment has been one of the main divisive issues in Israeli politics for decades,” he told Al Jazeera.
“One of the only themes that unites [the settler movement and Zionist secular opposition] “The ultra-Orthodox should be recruited.”
Could ultra-Orthodox recruitment bring down the government?
It is possible but not certain.
Netanyahu is in power thanks to a fragile coalition, which relies on the far-right settler movement and the ultra-Orthodox. Both the far-right and the ultra-Orthodox have used each other to secure their own interests, Goldberg said.
He noted that the two largest settlements in the West Bank, all of which are illegal under international law, are mostly occupied by ultra-Orthodox who moved for economic rather than ideological reasons, as housing there is heavily subsidized.
But, he stressed, they still contribute to the expansion of settlements by living there.
Some ultra-Orthodox and far-right settlers may live together, but they differ on important issues.
The latter wants to continue the war in Gaza and entrench the army's occupation of the West Bank. However, ultra-Orthodox leaders are pleading with Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza and secure a captivity deal with Hamas, calculating that the end of the war will reduce the need for more recruits.
“Settlers have an ideologically driven agenda… and they want to actively pursue territorial expansion,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera, drawing a loose comparison to American evangelical Christians because of what he said is a shared tendency to use religion to promote a right-wing agenda as well as expansionist goals.
“The ultra-Orthodox are nothing like American evangelicals. They just want to be left alone and maintain their own inner purity.”
While the ultra-Orthodox and the far right have different interests, neither has an incentive to bring about the collapse of a coalition government that has served their interests so well, Lovatt said.
He added that secular Zionist parties harbor a lot of resentment toward the ultra-Orthodox, leaving the latter with no choice but to back the right-wing coalition.
“I think the ultra-Orthodox would not want – and have so far been reluctant – to see this government collapse because that would exile them into the political wilderness,” Lovatt said.
