'Israel has no right to exist', Chief Rabbis say upon Haredim draft

Rejecting the military conscription legislation, Chief Rabbis in "Israel" convene and ban Yeshiva students from going to drafting offices.

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli ultra-orthodox protest against plans of mandatory military service in occupied al-Quds, March 2, 2024 (AFP)

"Israel's" chief Sephardic rabbis have officially instructed Yeshiva students to neglect army recruitment offices, slamming the latest mandatory conscription law discussed within the Knesset, and encouraging students to "favor prison and budget deprivations than cooperating with the Israeli army."

They stated that the law aimed to "destroy the Torah".

Rabbi Dov Landau, one of the chief rabbis of the Haredim, aggressively attacked Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's decision to call up 3,000 Haredi Jews for military service, saying "A state that recruits yeshivas has no right to exist."

"The army is at war with us, and wants to usurp the Torah students' rights, which is complete suicide," he said, adding "In the absence of the regime, and amid the army's war against us, what is the point of standing for what? The government is completely and absolutely against us."

Upon discourse regarding the mandatory conscription of the ultra-orthodox community, the chief rabbis convened and urged the Haredim to divert from drafting orders and abstain from going to recruitment offices.

At the end of the meeting, Landau requested that Rabbi Haim Aharon Kaufman, the chief of the Haredim community, relay his opinion to his Sephardic and Hasidic counterparts and form a unified stance against military conscription.

The head of the Slabdoka Yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, ordered students to influence the ultra-orthodox youth who do not study in schools of religion against any military conscription commands.

In response to Landau's statements, leaders of the Sephardic Jewish religious schools in the West, some of whom are members of the Council of Torah Sages (Shas), convened and issued a Torah edict "prohibiting entry into the army."

The signed edict further prohibited any presence in drafting offices.

Gallant officiates it

On Tuesday, Gallant legislated the mandatory conscription of 3,000 Haredim in the military.

Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom detailed that half of these recruits will be aged between 18 and 21, while 40% will be aged between 21 and 24, and the remaining 10% aged between 24 and 26.

Gallant announced that the issuance of draft orders could start as early as next month.

In late June, the Israeli Supreme Court unanimously voted for the conscription of Haredi Jews into the military, and the halt of all subsidies and funds allocated for institutions that do not comply with the ruling, affirming that "the state has no authority to exempt them."

The court ruled the regime 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."

Due to the need for more manpower, the war cabinet on Sunday discussed extending military service in the Israeli army to 3 years, as reported by the Israeli broadcaster Kan.

Gallant had requested on June 21st from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set a date for an urgent session to study the possibility of extending mandatory military service to 3 years, stressing that the new security reality necessitates finding means to continue the war effort.