Ultra-Orthodox party in Israel urges young Haredi men to resist draft
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Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Shas party urged potential conscripts Wednesday to ignore a call-up from the Israel Defense Forces, as political divisions over the controversial issue showed signs of widening.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, or Haredi, have traditionally been exempt from military service so as to be able to study the Torah. But a Supreme Court ruling in June said the Israeli government must enlist draft-age ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, reversing a de facto exemption in place since the country’s founding 76 years ago.
The move sparked fierce protests among Haredi communities.
Shas described summons for military service as outrageous, and added: “The Great Rabbis have instructed, categorically, that as of now, as a new law defining the status of Yeshiva students has not been passed, there shall be no response to any summons or even summons for a first order, and therefore, not to show up to the recruitment stations.”
“It’s our duty now to stand strong, like a wall that can’t be breached, and make clear for the world to know, that there’s no force in the world that will, God forbid, succeed in detaching the students of the Torah from their studies.”
Content retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/17/middleeast/ultra-orthodox-jews-boycott-israel-military-intl-latam/index.html.
