Israel defense minister says ultra-Orthodox should serve

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has called for members of the ultra-Orthodox community to be required to perform military service like other Israeli Jews as the Gaza war rages on.

"We must all bear the burden," Gallant said, addressing what has long been a divisive political issue in a country with mandatory military service for most citizens.

Since Israel was founded in 1948, Jewish men who study the Torah full-time in a seminary are granted an annual deferment from military service until the age of 26, at which point they become exempt.

But since the war in Gaza erupted after Hamas's October 7 attack, a decades-old debate around these exemptions has taken on a new urgency.

On Wednesday, Gallant called for an end to the exemptions, saying he would back legislation to this effect if it is endorsed by centrist ministers in the war cabinet of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"An immediate need arises for the extension of military service for our active soldiers and the prolongation of reserve duty for reservists," Gallant told journalists on Wednesday evening.

"It is not a matter of choice. We must stand firm in defending our homeland.

"It is possible and important to reach an agreed framework for a draft (law), even for a growing part of the ultra-Orthodox community which is already contributing to the civilian effort," he said.

Gallant's comments have raised fears of a political crisis in Israel at a time when it is fighting Hamas militants in Gaza.

A deadlock over the issue could threaten Netanyahu's coalition of ultra-Orthodox and religious nationalist parties.

Addressing reporters on Thursday, Netanyahu voiced confidence the issue could be resolved.

"We will find an agreement for (the ultra-Orthodox) to join the army or the civilian service, even if not everyone will be satisfied," Netanyahu said.

"(An) election now would block everything... Gallant knows that we cannot move towards elections during the war."

- Growing resentment -

The exemptions given to ultra-Orthodox seminary students have ballooned as the community's population has grown over the decades.

This has fuelled resentment among Israeli society at large.

Israel called up more than 300,000 military reservists as it launched its costly war against Hamas following the October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Gallant called on Netanyahu "to lead a shared process with all coalition parties and reach necessary agreements on the issue of a draft law".

Gallant said the bill needs backing from all parties.

"Without agreement from all parts of the coalition, the defence establishment that I head will not submit the law," he said.

His remarks were welcomed by centrist cabinet minister Benny Gantz, a former defence minister who joined Netanyahu's emergency coalition after the war began.

Gallant's remarks drew criticism from Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Jewish Power faction in Netanyahu's government.

"There is no possibility whatsoever to draft this community forcibly," Eliyahu told army radio.

"At the moment I prefer unity of the people of Israel and the country to the government collapsing" over this issue, he said.