Earlier this week, the Israeli Supreme Court tightened the political noose around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It ruled that ultra-Orthodox Haredi yeshiva students would no longer be exempt from military service.
The court did not order the immediate conscription of all 66,000 students currently exempt from service, but it made clear that the process of conscription must start immediately, even if it is to take place gradually. The court also mandated that any religious seminary whose students avoided military service would no longer receive government subsidies, since those funds were tied to the now defunct military exemptions.
It is noteworthy that the ruling was unanimous and included the support of the court’s Orthodox members.
Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, and the prospect of a second front war against Hezbollah — both of which have drained the country’s military manpower and forced multiple extensions of reserve duty — was a major factor in the court’s ruling. As one judge put it, “in the midst of a grueling war, the burden of inequality is harsher than ever and demands a solution.”
The vast majority of Israelis, including many religious Jews, share that view. As an Israeli taxi driver put it to me a few weeks ago, “I pray daily, and am observant. But I work while these people not only receive government funds, many spend hours each day away from the schools they nominally attend.”
Moreover, the success of the Orthodox Hesder yeshivas, whose students combine religious studies with military service, puts paid to the entire Haredi case for exemption due to Torah study.
Haredi leaders have always insisted that Torah study is as, if not more, important than military service for protecting Israel from its enemies. But the historical record demonstrates that as the number of students has increased dramatically since 1973, Israel’s record on the battlefield since that year has been considerably more mixed.
Not surprisingly, Haredi leaders have reacted with anger over the court’s decision. In the past, some even had asserted that yeshiva students should emigrate rather than serve in the military. Aryeh Deri, leader of the Haredi Shas party, did not go that far, but he did assert that “there is no force in the world that can disconnect the people of Israel from Torah study, and anyone who has tried in the past has failed miserably.”
Deri’s voice is particularly significant, as he is closely aligned with Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s government would collapse without Shas support. The Shas leader — who served three years in prison after he was convicted of fraud in 1999 and 22 years later was party to a plea deal over tax offenses — served as a member of the small inner war cabinet that the prime minister created after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. When Netanyahu dissolved that group after the resignations of former Defense Minister Benny Gantz and former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, he announced that henceforth, he would consult with a selected group of advisors; Deri was identified as a member of that group.
Netanyahu, desperate to save his government, and Deri and the leaders of the other Haredi parties, seeking to restore their community’s privileges, will no doubt make every effort to have the Knesset pass a new, perhaps watered-down law exempting Haredi students. As a Likud party statement put it, the court’s decision is “relevant for only a short period of time.”
Nevertheless, the prospects for passage of a new law currently appear dim. Several members of Netanyahu’s own Likud party have indicated that they would oppose any new exemptions. The opposition of two Likud legislators forced Netanyahu to withdraw another Haredi-supported bill creating over 1,000 new rabbinical positions at government expense, which does not augur well for any new legislation that revives government support for the Haredim.
The Supreme Court ruling ending government subsidies for Haredi students and their schools affects American taxpayers. The U.S. provides $4 billion annually to support Israel’s defense programs. Budget money is inherently fungible, and therefore Israeli finance officials can divert funds to other projects which, in the absence of American support and in Israel’s wartime environment, they would have been forced to spend on defense. Support for Haredi students, schools and other community programs are among those projects.
More important, however, is the impact of the Supreme Court ruling on prospects for Netanyahu’s survival as prime minister, which are now increasingly dim. Many in Washington would welcome the collapse of the Netanyahu government. It certainly is long overdue.
Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.