Israel Passes Law Halting Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Ahead of Elections

Israel's parliament has passed two laws that effectively halt the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men into the military, in a move widely seen as an attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to shore up support from religious political parties ahead of elections in October.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Lawmakers voted during a marathon session on Monday and Tuesday to freeze the arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders and to enshrine Jewish religious studies as a foundational value of the state.

Both measures represent significant concessions by Netanyahu's Likud party to ultra-Orthodox politicians who have long sought to formalise their community's de facto exemption from military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women in Israel.

The legislation has drawn sharp criticism from within the military. In a letter to Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, military chief Eyal Zamir said the bills were clearly and unequivocally inconsistent with the military's needs, adding that it was inconceivable that a force demanding unprecedented sacrifice from its personnel should be party to granting mass exemptions from prosecution.

The Israeli military is already facing troop shortages after nearly three years of fighting across Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Roughly 13,000 ultra-Orthodox men reach conscription age each year, but fewer than ten per cent enlist, according to a parliamentary committee. Many Israelis have grown increasingly frustrated with the long-standing arrangement that has allowed the community to avoid service.

Political calculation ahead of October polls

The laws come as the Knesset prepares to break for its summer recess, returning just days before the 27 October general election, which is also expected to serve as a referendum on Netanyahu's wartime leadership. Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, head of the religious and state programme at the Israel Democracy Institute, said Netanyahu was trying to ensure that ultra-Orthodox parties would negotiate exclusively with him after the vote, though she noted he faced resistance from within his own party as well as from the military.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid described the law formalising Torah study as a desecration that was spitting in the face of Israeli soldiers. Ultra-Orthodox lawmaker Moshe Gafni, who sponsored the bill, called its passage historic, saying Torah study had preserved the Jewish people across thousands of years of diaspora and would now serve as a compass for the values of the state.

Israel's Supreme Court had previously ruled that exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox were illegal. Experts say the new law gives the government a legal basis from which to resist the court's position.