Yesterday, Israel's Supreme Court in a controversial ruling ordered the government to end draft deferments that have been given to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men studying in yeshivas. According to The Guardian:
The unanimous ruling on Tuesday, from an expanded panel of nine judges, upheld an interim decision last month that the state had no authority to offer the current exemption for ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men. It found that yeshivas – Orthodox seminaries for Torah study – should be ineligible for state subsidies unless students enlisted in the military.
The court ruled the state was carrying out “invalid selective enforcement, which represents a serious violation of the rule of law, and the principle according to which all individuals are equal before the law … In the midst of a grueling war, the burden of inequality is harsher than ever and demands a solution.”
According to Times of Israel, within hours after the Court's decision, Israel's Attorney General ordered the Israel Defense Forces to immediately draft 3000 yeshiva students and ordered government ministries to stop transferring already-appropriated funds to yeshivas where students were studying in lieu of military service.
