How military exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox divide Israel

STORY: In Israel, some ultra-Orthodox Jewish men are staging protests, angry at attempts to remove exemptions of religious students from military service.

In a time of war, the issue is dividing Israelis.

And it's even threatening the stability of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition.

Let's take a closer look.

The ultra-Orthodox Haredi community has been exempt from military service since the founding of Israel in 1948.

The country's first prime minister David Ben-Gurion exempted about 400 students from military duty so they could devote themselves to religious study.

Ben-Gurion had hoped to keep alive sacred knowledge and traditions almost wiped out in the Holocaust.

Since then the ultra-Orthodox Jews have gone from being a tiny minority to making up more than 13% of the country's population.

Haredi men often live in heavily Orthodox neighborhoods and devote their lives to religious study.

Some do serve in the army but most do not.

Many Haredi men do not work but live off donations, state benefits and the often modest wages of their wives, many of whom do work.

The military exemptions have long bred resentment from secular Israelis, whose taxes subsidize the Haredim and who are themselves obliged to serve in the military.

This resentment has only grown since the start of the war in Gaza.

Many Israelis regard the war against Hamas as an existential battle for the future of the country.

Opinion polls indicate very broad public support for removing the exemptions.

Former deputy head of Israel’s national security council Eran Etzion:

“We are at war, we need every soldier, and the days of disavowing their responsibility are over.”

On the other side, ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties are resisting pressure to lift the exemptions.

(Israel Kaya, Ultra-Orthodox Jew)

“They want us to be… to go to the Israeli army. For that it means that us, they don’t want us to be religious. Therefore we prefer to die and not to go the army.”

For Netanyahu the stakes are high.

His coalition includes two Haredi parties, who want to keep exemptions for their communities.

Their departure could trigger new elections, which opinion polls indicate Netanyahu would lose.

On the other hand, Netanyahu's own defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and his allies want a far broader conscription law.

The Supreme Court has given the government time until April 30 to reach a solution acceptable to both its religious and secular members.

(Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister) "So we will determine goals for the drafting of ultra-Orthodox men to the IDF and national civil service. We can reach that agreement without dividing the nation and without incitement against any members of the public.”