Ultra-Orthodox protesters block Israeli roads over draft orders
Ultra-Orthodox protests over Israel's military draft have escalated from a long-running political dispute into street confrontations, including road blockages, attacks on security forces and attempts to pressure judges. Israeli police said officers arrested demonstrators during recent unrest, while Israel's Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that the state could no longer maintain broad draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox seminary students without a legal basis. The dispute cuts into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition because ultra-Orthodox parties demand renewed protections for yeshiva students as Israel's armed forces seek more personnel during the Gaza war. The issue is not only about army manpower. It is a test of whether Israel can reconcile wartime security needs, religious autonomy and equality before the law without widening social fractures inside the country.
For Belgian readers following Israel, the dispute helps explain why Netanyahu's government faces internal pressure even while the Gaza war dominates headlines. It matters to Jewish communities in Belgium, Middle East policy watchers, Belgian diplomats, EU institution staff and voters who follow EU-Israel relations because domestic instability can shape Israel's war policy, coalition durability and responses to external pressure. The core issue is Israeli, but the consequences feed into a conflict that Belgium and the EU already debate diplomatically, legally and socially.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, often called Haredim in Israeli politics, are a strictly religious Jewish community whose many male students study full-time in yeshivas instead of serving in the army. The Israel Defense Forces is Israel's military, which relies on compulsory service for most Jewish citizens. Yeshivas are Jewish religious seminaries where Torah and Talmud study can be a full-time vocation. Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel's prime minister and leader of Likud, governing through a coalition that includes ultra-Orthodox parties. Likud is Israel's main right-wing party and has depended on religious partners in several governments. Shas is an ultra-Orthodox party rooted mainly in Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewish communities. United Torah Judaism is an Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox alliance. The Supreme Court of Israel is the country's top court and has repeatedly intervened in the draft-exemption dispute. Noam Sohlberg is a Supreme Court justice whose home became a focus of protest pressure.
Background
Israel's ultra-Orthodox draft dispute dates back to the early state, when Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion allowed a small number of religious students to defer service. The arrangement expanded as the Haredi population grew and became more politically organised. Israel's Supreme Court struck down exemption frameworks in 1998, 2012 and 2017, pushing governments to legislate a more equal system. On 25 June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the government lacked authority to keep exempting yeshiva students without a valid law. The Gaza war intensified the dispute by increasing military manpower needs and public anger over unequal service burdens.
The wider picture
The draft crisis exposes a wartime vulnerability inside Israel: a military under pressure, a coalition dependent on religious parties, and a society split over burden-sharing. For allies and critics alike, Israel's internal cohesion matters because it shapes military endurance, Gaza policy, deterrence against regional adversaries and the credibility of diplomatic commitments.
Why now
The immediate trigger is the expiry of previous exemption arrangements, the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling and the issuing of draft-related orders while Israel remains at war in Gaza. That combination moved the dispute from parliamentary negotiation into enforcement and street protest.
What to watch
Watch for a revised conscription bill, any Supreme Court response to government delay, protest size around enlistment offices and judges' homes, and statements from Shas or United Torah Judaism on whether they will keep supporting Netanyahu's coalition.
Opposing perspectives
- Ultra-Orthodox parties (Shas and United Torah Judaism)
Ultra-Orthodox parties argue that full-time Torah study is a central public good for religious Jewish life and that forced enlistment would undermine a community built around yeshiva education. Their strongest case is that integration cannot be imposed through arrests or court pressure without damaging trust between the state and a large religious minority.
- Israeli secular and reservist constituencies
Secular Israelis and many reservist families argue that wartime service obligations must be shared more equally. Their strongest case is that a system asking some citizens to risk years of service, mobilisation and combat while others receive blanket exemptions cannot sustain public consent during a prolonged war.
- Supreme Court and rule-of-law advocates
The Supreme Court's position is that the government cannot preserve mass exemptions by administrative practice once the legal basis has expired. The strongest rule-of-law frame is that coalition bargaining cannot override equality principles and statutory limits, especially where state funding and compulsory service are involved.
Sources & evidence
- Al Jazeera · 2026-06-12
- Associated Press · 2026-06-01
- The Times of Israel · 2026-06-12
- Reuters · 2024-06-25
- Supreme Court of Israel · 2024-06-25
- Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, The Haredim as a Challenge for the Jewish State · 2020-06-01