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Ministers okay compromise to lower ultra-Orthodox IDF exemption age timesofisrael.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofisrael.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel s military correspondent.
An ultra-Orthodox man walks past the army recruitment office in Jerusalem, July 22, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash 90/ File)
A national exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox men expired Monday, following Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s refusal to request an extension from the High Court of Justice. But the development is unlikely to change facts on the ground, according to an expert in the matter.
Despite Gantz’s opposition, the government on Monday night requested a delay from the court, which has yet to respond.
For decades, ultra-Orthodox Israelis have been allowed a near-blanket exemption from national service in favor of religious study (though small percentages do enlist), but in 2012, the High Court of Justice struck down the law permitting this arrangement as discriminatory. A new law was drafted to address the issue in 2014, but this too was overturned by the court three years later, demanding