Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is seeking a 30-day extension to craft a law to deal with the mandatory enlistment for ultra-Orthodox men, after weeks of negotiations in his cabinet were unsuccessful.
Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to present legislation aimed at increasing recruitment among the religious community by the end of March. Netanyahu asked for the extension on Thursday afternoon.
Broad exemptions from mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men have reopened a deep divide in the country and rattled the government coalition. Netanyahu’s fellow War Cabinet members are staunchly opposed to his proposed new conscription law.
In a letter to the Supreme Court, Netanyahu said that additional time is needed “because it has been proven in the past that enlistment without an agreed-upon arrangement actually has the opposite effect.”
Most Jewish men are required to serve nearly three years followed by years of reserve duty. Jewish women serve two mandatory years. But the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox, who make up roughly 13% of Israeli society, have traditionally received exemptions if they are studying full-time in religious seminaries.
The exemptions — and the government stipends many seminary students receive through age 26 — have infuriated the wider general public, especially while the country is embroiled in a war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
The Supreme Court has ruled the current system discriminatory and given the government until the end of March to present a bill and until June 30 to pass it.
