Ultra-Orthodox conscription dispute pushes Israeli government to brink

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If the vote passes in the Knesset next week, as expected, then a general election will be held within 90 days of its passage – projected for the third week of August; two months before the mandated end of the government’s current term on October 27. Ultra-Orthodox parties, which were a key component in the 2022 far-right coalition government, have made the exemption of their constituents from the draft – which almost all Israeli adults are eligible for – a pillar of their political campaigning in recent years. A crisis began in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in July 2025, when the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) pulled their support from the coalition unless a bill was passed exempting constituents from the draft. The parties have continued to back the government on important votes in the Knesset, but now one of UTJ’s factions, led by Degel Hatorah, has demanded the collapse of the government, with the party’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Dov Lando, saying he had finally lost faith in Netanyahu. “From now on, we will only do what is good for Haredi Judaism and the yeshiva (religious school) world,” the rabbi told his UTJ Knesset members. “We must work to dissolve the Knesset as soon as possible. The concept of a ‘bloc’ no longer exists for us.” Here’s what we know about ultra-Orthodox military conscription and how the issue could affect Israeli politics. Ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in full-time religious study have been exempt from military service since the state of Israel was created in 1948. This was ruled illegal by Israel’s High Court of Justice in 1998, with a series of temporary measures intended to defer Haredi recruitment being repeatedly struck down. However, as the size of the ultra-Orthodox population has grown – and the Israel military’s need for new recruits amid an expansion of its military campaigns – so too has the pressure to include men in the draft. In 2024, the Israeli High Court again intervened, ordering the government to finally break the deadlock and begin actively conscripting ultra-Orthodox men. In response, the military issued tens of thousands of draft notices to Haredi Jews, but compliance has remained minimal. According to testimony presented to the Knesset, only 1,200 ultra-Orthodox recruits have responded to the roughly 24,000 summons issued by the military so far. The refusal of many in the ultra-Orthodox population to serve in the military is typically grounded in religious belief and the desire to preserve a way of life centred around full-time study of the Torah. They claim that religious study forms the spiritual backbone of Israel, as the military is engaged in wars in the region. Polls show that around four-fifths of Israelis favour conscripting Haredi men, or imposing sanctions on any who refuse the draft. A poll by the Israeli Democracy Institute last year showed an overwhelming 85 percent of Israelis back sanctions on ultra-Orthodox men who refuse to serve, and support ending state benefits to religious students whose families rely on. The exemption is unpopular with almost all political strands in Israeli society. Opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, whose joint ticket looks to be the most likely to topple Netanyahu in future elections, have been particularly critical of the policy, promising to end benefits to religious students if they refuse national service and pledging an investigation into why the effective exemption has been allowed to continue. After its genocide in Gaza, initiating conflicts in Iran and Lebanon, and occupying parts of Syria over the past two years, the Israeli army is exhausted and in need of new recruits. Speaking to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on Sunday, Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, warned that the current burden on regular and reserve forces was unsustainable. “I do not deal with political or legislative processes,” Zamir told legislators. “I deal with a multi-front war and defeating the enemy. To keep doing that, the IDF needs more soldiers immediately.” He told legislators that it was essential that the military ranks grow quickly to continue actions in the region, which has seen thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians killed in years of Israeli military offensives. The recruitment of ultra-Orthodox men would be critical to sustaining these campaigns, Zamir said, which would likely lead to more civilian deaths and injuries in the region. “Recruiting Haredim is an existential need for the IDF, not just a matter of sharing the burden and equality,” he said. 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