Netanyahu seeks delay in ultra-Orthodox conscription row

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israel's top court Thursday for a new delay on compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews, an issue that has put his ruling coalition at risk.

Conscription of ultra-Orthodox men has long been a divisive issue in Israeli politics, precipitating a protracted crisis that saw five parliamentary elections in under four years.

Ultra-Orthodox men are facing the possibility of being called up from April 1, as Israel's war against Hamas militants rages in the Gaza Strip.

But Netanyahu, who has depended on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties in successive coalition governments, asked the Supreme Court to delay a deadline for coming up with a new conscription policy.

He sought a 30-day delay to allow time to come up with an agreement within his government, where his ultra-Orthodox allies fiercely oppose conscription for their community.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara argued against a delay, telling the court that conscription needs to begin by April 1.

With the war in Gaza, pressure has increased on the country's large and growing ultra-Orthodox community who have long been exempt from military service, which is compulsory for nearly all other Jewish men in Israel.

Netanyahu is working to avoid an early election that might benefit Benny Gantz, a centrist member of his war cabinet, Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, has said.

Recent polls suggest that if there were an election, Gantz's party would win the largest number of seats.

Before the war in Gaza, the religious parties had also supported Netanyahu's controversial judicial reforms, in the hopes of further extending military exemptions.

The judicial revamp sparked months of protests, often by tens of thousands of Israelis.

- Exemptions date back decades -

But Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in February announced a reform of military service that would include the ultra-Orthodox.

Some Israeli media perceived Gallant's move as a challenge to Netanyahu. Both men belong to the same Likud party.

Military service is obligatory for young Israelis -- 32 months for men, and two years for women.

But almost all the ultra-Orthodox have been able to escape it, with 66,000 members of the community excused from military service last year alone.

Jewish men who study the Torah full-time in religious schools have long been granted an annual deferment from military service until the age of 26, at which point they become exempt.

Young ultra-Orthodox women are automatically exempt.

The exemptions date from Israel's founding in 1948, and were meant to allow a group of 400 young people to study sacred texts and preserve Jewish traditions put at risk by the Holocaust.

Today, the ultra-Orthodox number 1.3 million people, according to the Israel Democracy Institute -- bolstered by a fertility rate of more than six children per woman, which far exceeds the national average of 2.5.

Most ultra-Orthodox want the exemptions to be extended to all religious students, saying serving in the military is incompatible with their values.