Amid the shortage of forces "Ynet": The law on recruiting ultra-Orthodox Jews may blow up Netanyahu's coalition

The Ynet website revealed a draft of the bill that Likud ministers intend to submit to the government regarding the recruitment of Jewish extremists into the ranks of the Israeli army, in an issue that may decide the fate of the coalition.

According to the website, the draft law that will be presented to the government will not include the goals insisted on by those who demand equality in the burden during the war, nor does it provide an answer to the immediate manpower needs of the Israeli army.

The conscription exemption law is the focus of popular uproar in Israel and may decide the fate of the government coalition ,  but putting this draft up for discussion comes in an attempt to reach agreements on this thorny issue.

"Ynet" quoted senior Likud officials as saying that they decided to present the draft law to the government without consensus, but the intention of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the relevant Likud ministers is to approve it in the government and present the general principles to the government's legal advisor, thus achieving the postponement of legislation on this explosive issue until Next June. 

The chief rabbi of the Sephardim, that is, the Eastern Jews, Yitzhak Yosef, said earlier that if the religious people were forced into military service, they would all travel abroad.

On Saturday, the Israeli army issued orders to thousands of soldiers who were scheduled to be released from compulsory service, to serve for another 4 months , due to a shortage of manpower resulting from the war in Gaza and the escalation on the northern border with Lebanon.

It is noteworthy that approximately 66 thousand religious young men obtained exemption from military service during the past year, which is a record number, especially amid the state of war that Israel is experiencing and the multiple fronts it is dealing with.

Since 2017, successive Israeli governments have failed to reach a consensus law requiring the recruitment of religious Jews (Haredim) after the Supreme Court annulled the law enacted in 2015 exempting them from military service and justifying this by saying that the exemption violates the “principle of equality.”