March 29 (UPI) — The Israeli Supreme Court on Thursday issued a ruling which will freeze ongoing funding for Hardei students who do not enlist for military service.
The interim order forbids Israel’s government from providing funds to the ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students exempt from military service to study the Torah in a tradition with goes back decades.
It goes into effect on April 1 but largely will not become functional until August 9. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a letter to the court had requested additional time to figure out the issue which they denied.
The group who filed the legal motion that led to Thursday’s ruling by Israel’s Supreme Court said it was “an historic interim ruling which signifies the end of the illegitimate discrimination between different types of blood,” indicating how support is no longer there for those who are “not partners in the burden” to serve in the military.
A faction of Israel’s United Torah Judaism party said the high court’s decision was “an all-out struggle against Torah scholars and Torah education, and they must prove to everyone that they’re in charge in this country, and they will also decide for us which coalition we will go to.”
“How can an interim order be issued in an hour when an ordinary person can wait years for a ruling?” said the Degel Hatorah faction “Everything is timed out. We will take care of Torah students and Torah education, and we will ask the Torah elders how to behave politically in light of the obvious damage to Torah students and the entire Haredi public.”
The Supreme Court in 2017 had struck down a law that granted blanket exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students — who also receive government subsidies — from military service and instructed the government to pass new legislation that would lead to greater ultra-Orthodox enlistment.
In June 2023, the government passed a resolution to temporarily avoid drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students while the Knesset formulated and passed new legislation on the contentious issue.
But the ruling will only affect those of military age after the law’s June 2023 expiration and those whose deferral expired after the law itself. However, funding will continue for students not in that category.
Temporary fixes on the issue have run their course amid heightened tensions and the shadow of a possible election to replace Netanyahu’s wartime governing coalition over the issue.
It came as a Tuesday cabinet meeting got postponed as scores of protestors gathered outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem to protest the issue over a lack of military enlistment by the Haredi, who represent over 12% of the Israeli population and one of the fastest-growing demographics.
