Dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked roads in Jerusalem on Sunday as Israel’s Supreme Court heard arguments in a landmark case challenging a controversial system of exemptions from military service granted to the religious community.
The court is examining the legality of the exemptions, which have divided the country and threatened to collapse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.
Most Jewish men and women in Israel must perform mandatory military service at the age of 18. But the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox have traditionally received exemptions if they study full-time at religious seminaries. These exemptions have angered the general public, especially as hundreds of soldiers have been killed in the war with Hamas.
During arguments Sunday, government lawyers told the justices that forcing ultra-Orthodox men to enlist would “destroy Israeli society.” The court suggested a goal of enlisting 3,000 ultra-Orthodox men a year, more than double current levels but still less than 25% of their total number.
In Jerusalem, Israeli police cleared protesters from the roads and forcibly removed those who briefly blocked the city’s light rail. The protesters chanted “to jail and not to the army.”
In March, the court ordered an end to government subsidies for many ultra-Orthodox men who do not serve in the military.
Netanyahu faces a court-ordered deadline of June 30 to pass a new law that would end the broad exemptions. But he relies on ultra-Orthodox parties to prop up his rule, and ending exemptions could cause them to leave and trigger new elections.
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