Latest news with #military service
France 24
16-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Ultra-Orthodox party quits Israeli government over army exemptions
Israeli government members from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish party Shas announced on Wednesday their resignation, protesting the ruling coalition's failure to pass a law to exempt their community from military service. However, the party stopped short of withdrawing its support for the coalition in parliament, and said it would not back a no-confidence vote to bring down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. The move came just two days after the Israeli legislature's other ultra-Orthodoxparty, United Torah Judaism, quit both the government and the coalition over the failure to secure the long-promised exemptions. The conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews is a highly contentious issue for Israeli society, large parts of which are required to serve in the army. Debates over reforming the conscription law have intensified in recent months, straining the governing coalition formed in December 2022 as an alliance between Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, far-right parties and the ultra-Orthodox. The departure of United Torah Judaism earlier this week has effectively stripped the coalition of a parliamentary majority, potentially paralysing legislation. Were Shas to follow suit and exit the coalition, Netanyahu would remain with a fragile minority government backed by only 49 out of 120 lawmakers. Opposition leader Yair Lapid urged Netanyahu to call snap elections, even with Israel embroiled in a war against Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "A minority government cannot send soldiers to the battlefield... It is not a legitimate government," Lapid said in a video statement on Wednesday. "The time has come for elections -- now." Under an arrangement dating back to Israel's founding in 1948, the ultra-Orthodox have been effectively exempted from military service as long as they dedicate themselves to religious studies. The ultra-Orthodox parties have long fought to maintain this arrangement, arguing that full-time religious study is a service to nation. But public support for the exemptions has waned, particularly as the army faces manpower shortages after more than 21 months of war in Gaza. One of Shas's outgoing ministers, Michael Malchieli, said on Wednesday that efforts to draft ultra-Orthodox men amounted to "persecution".
South China Morning Post
16-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Israel PM Netanyahu's fate in the balance as another party quits government
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost another coalition partner amid an ongoing row over mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men, with the Shas party reportedly quitting the government on Wednesday. The ultra-Orthodox party said it was giving up all its posts in government, Israeli media reported. However, Shas is not joining the opposition, the party stressed. It was initially unclear what this meant for Netanyahu's majority in parliament. Opposition leader Yair Lapid claimed that Israel was being led by a minority government following Shas' withdrawal, while some outlets also reported that Netanyahu's government had lost its majority in parliament. However, the ynet news website wrote that Shas would not completely break away from the government factions in parliament, meaning Netanyahu's governing alliance would be able to cling on to a razor-thin majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat parliament. Seven ministers and deputy ministers of the Shas party are reportedly set to resign, including Interior Minister Moshe Arbel and Health Minister Uriel Buso.
Malay Mail
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
A royal send-off: Cha Eun-woo gifts fans new solo album before military enlistment
SEOUL, July 16 — Cha Eun-woo of Astro has reportedly completed work on his solo album and even filmed a music video last week. According to The Korea Herald, the upcoming album will be led by two main tracks and is scheduled for release in September, following Cha's enlistment on July 28. The paper reported that he will begin his mandatory military service with basic training before joining the army's marching band. Last week, Cha delighted fans with solo fan meetings in Seoul and Tokyo under the title "The Royal". During the events, he performed an unreleased solo track and even danced to Soda Pop from the Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters. Cha released his first solo EP, Entity, in February 2024, which sold over 210,000 copies in its first week.
Irish Times
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition in jeopardy as ultra-Orthodox party quits government
The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party has resigned from prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu 's coalition, leaving him with a wafer-thin majority of 61 lawmakers in the 120-seat Knesset parliament. On Thursday a second ultra-Orthodox party, Shas , is expected to follow suit, leaving Mr Netanyahu with a minority coalition of 50 seats. The government is not expected to fall immediately, but a minority coalition will not be able to function for long without Mr Netanyahu calling early elections. UTJ quit the coalition after Mr Netanyahu failed to present a Bill that would enshrine in law an exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva religious seminary students. The 21-month Gaza war , the longest in Israel's history, has caused a serious rift in Mr Netanyahu's coalition. READ MORE Many of the voters of the right-wing parties have already served hundreds of days of army reserve duty, causing a huge strain on families and businesses. The ultra-Orthodox parties, in contrast, serve a constituency that, with a few exceptions, does not serve in the army. Calls for a more equitable sharing of the burden have been rebuffed by ultra-Orthodox rabbis and political leaders, who fear that military service will be the first step towards the adoption of a more secular lifestyle. The next elections must be held by October 2026. Even if Shas also leaves the government, the two ultra-Orthodox parties are reportedly uninterested in toppling the coalition at this juncture and forcing new elections, realising that any future coalition will also be unlikely to agree to authorise draft dodging. The high court has already ruled that the ultra-Orthodox, with the exception of a small group of exceptional Torah scholars, must serve in the military like all Jewish males. [ Israeli pledge to let more aid into Gaza will be kept under 'close watch', EU says Opens in new window ] A range of sanctions are being mulled against the draft dodgers, including ending welfare payments, withholding driving licences and preventing travel abroad. But many of the ultra-Orthodox claim they would rather go to prison than enlist in the army. The upcoming Knesset summer recess, which starts on July 27th, will give Mr Netanyahu three months to try to come up with a compromise while ruling with a minority government. Alternatively, he could try to conjure up another reason to go to elections, realising that going to the polls having failed to draft the ultra-Orthodox will not be a vote winner. [ Future of Israel's plan to force Gazans to southern city hangs in balance Opens in new window ] Mr Netanyahu also faces the prospect of the total disintegration of his coalition if he clinches a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that prompts the two far-right parties to leave his government. Such a scenario is a distinct possibility as both parties have warned that ending the war without what they term 'total victory' over Hamas will force them to work to topple the government.
The National
15-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Blow for Benjamin Netanyahu as ultra-Orthodox party quits coalition
An ultra-Orthodox party has quit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's coalition in a long-running dispute over mandatory military service, leaving his government with a razor-thin majority amid public protests over the Gaza war. The departure of United Torah Judaism leaves Mr Netanyahu with 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. If ultra-Orthodox party Shas also quits over the issue, as Israeli media reports suggest they will this week, the government will be left with only 50 seats. The two parties have not said whether they will join the opposition to try to dissolve parliament, which would trigger elections. Their departures will only come into effect after 48 hours, giving Mr Netanyahu a window to salvage the situation. United Torah Judaism's move is the latest in wrangles over whether Israel's growing ultra-Orthodox population should serve in the military, as all other Jewish Israelis are obliged to do. The issue has been a political lightning rod for years, but is drawing particular anger during the Gaza war as Israel's military says it is facing a shortage of personnel. Many Israelis are saying the ultra-Orthodox community is shirking its responsibility. It is also a divisive issue within Mr Netanyahu's far-right coalition, which contains ultra-nationalist Zionist parties whose supporters are disproportionately represented in military units fighting on the frontlines. A spokesman for one of the factions that makes up UTJ said the party was making the decision after the government repeatedly failed 'to fulfil their obligations to regulate the legal status of the dear yeshiva students', referring to ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious schools that focus on the study of Torah and rabbinic traditions. Currently, men enrolled in these schools are exempt from military service. But a court ruled in June last year that this exemption was no longer legal. In response, the community wants the government to legislate on a permanent exemption, but that process has been stalled. Mr Netanyahu has reportedly directly intervened in the drafting of the long-debated bill, which faces stiff resistance from influential politician Yuli Edelstein, of Mr Netanyahu's Likud party. A wave of departures from the coalition was prevented last month after Mr Edelstein agreed to limit some sanctions against draft dodgers listed in an earlier version of the bill. The ultra-Orthodox community also receives significant subsidies to continue its secluded way of life, which many Israelis criticise as an unfair financial burden that encourages its members not to integrate. While some ultra-Orthodox Jews do serve in specialised branches of the armed forces, they represent a tiny proportion of the fast-growing community, whose leaders overwhelmingly encourage men to pursue full-time religious study. Community leaders fear that military life draws men away from the isolated group – significant swathes of which are non-Zionist – and its strict, insular interpretation of Judaism. The Israeli opposition has made military exemption a central issue in its strategy to attack the government. 'We will not forget: while Netanyahu fought yesterday to promote draft evasion, he knew about the three fatalities and the soldier who took his own life,' wrote opposition leader Yair Lapid in a post on X on Tuesday, following news of Israeli soldiers dying in Gaza. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, a favourite in polls for future elections, said on Monday that as soldiers were dying, 'in the corridors of the Knesset, coalition members are moving heaven and Earth to create a draft-dodging law'. 'This gap is unbearable. We are at war. Our sons are there. In Gaza, in the north, wherever they are needed,' he added. 'This is a disgraceful government, unworthy of our good people.'
