Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews must serve in the military, the country’s supreme court has ruled, angering a large and influential voting block that forms a core part of Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
The court found that parts of the conscription law that have exempted seminary students from military service were “unreasonable and unconstitutional” and ordered the government to find a solution within a year.
The exemptions have long divided Israeli society, where two-year military service is otherwise mandatory for Jewish men and women at the age of 18.
There are about 850,000 ultra- Orthodox Jews in Israel, where they are known as the Haredim, making up about 10 per cent of the population. The fastest growing section of Israeli society, they are given subsidies for studying the