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Israel’s Gaza offensive sparks fierce clash over Ultra-Orthodox military draft
IDF troops in Gaza
The IDF says it recently operated and concluded the encirclement of Tel al-Sultan in Gaza . (IDF Video.)
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As Israel mobilizes an additional 60,000 reservists for its Gaza City offensive, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a showdown over mandatory military service for the Ultra-Orthodox community, a debate sharpened by the strain on reservists pulled from their families for months at a time.
During Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion reached an agreement with the Ultra-Orthodox community to exempt full-time Bible students from the army. The arrangement, known as «Torato manuto» — literally «his Torah is his occupation» — originally applied to only a few hundred students.
Today, that community makes up roughly 15% of Israel’s population of 10 million, a share projected to grow to about a third by 2050 due to high birth rates.
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The Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir, conducted a field tour in the Gaza Strip. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
When the Knesset broke for its summer recess at the end of July, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition was on the verge of collapse over the conscription issue, even as the war against Hamas in Gaza intensified.
Likud lawmaker Yuli Edelstein told Fox News Digital that the ideal outcome would see full-time Torah students continue their studies, while those who are not engaged in religious learning would enlist in the IDF.
«The army needs them, Israel needs them, and it’s manageable — we can do it. What makes it difficult is the lack of an oversight mechanism that the Haredim would agree to,» Edelstein said.
In July, Netanyahu’s Likud party removed Edelstein as chair of the influential Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee after he publicly accused Haredi lawmakers of refusing to engage in compromise on legislation the body was ready to advance.
The shake-up came a week after the Ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas withdrew from the coalition in protest over the failure to pass legislation exempting Haredi men from military service. However, they stopped short of joining opposition no-confidence motions that could topple the government.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish boys sit in front of mounted police officers during a demonstration against the draft into the Israeli army on June 27, 2024, in Bnei Brak, Israel. (Itai Ron/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
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The Knesset reconvenes for its winter session next month, giving Netanyahu a little over a month to broker a deal.
«We insisted that anyone who joins the army as a Haredi should leave as a Haredi, and we insisted that the army build the infrastructure to make that possible. We really understand the sensitivity,» Edelstein told Fox News Digital.
«The rabbis, for now, are not in favor of Haredim joining the army — not all of them, of course — but we are trying to work with them as well,» he added.
Ido Keren is the founder of «Katef Le Katef» («Shoulder to Shoulder»), an organization of young military reservists from across Israel’s political spectrum that advocates for universal conscription, both as a security necessity and a matter of equality.»
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish group gathers to protest against conscription in front of the Tel HaShomer military branch in Tel Aviv, Israel on Aug. 6, 2024. (Matan Golan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«The IDF chief of staff has said there is a shortage of 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers, and these gaps must be filled,» Keren told Fox News Digital. «While 64,000 Haredim are eligible for enlistment, they are not joining. During this time, reservists continue to serve without pause.
«It is not logical that entire groups in Israeli society serve and pay taxes,» he continued, «while another group does not serve, does not pay taxes, and gets a free ride thanks to others. The Jewish state is built on values of mutual responsibility and unity.»
Israeli army reservists protest against a bill that would grant exemptions to Ultra-Orthodox Jews from serving in the army, outside the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on December 26, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
Keren argued that the solution lies in enforcing a universal draft law backed by economic, rather than criminal, sanctions. Cutting public budgets for those who refuse to serve, he said, would push Haredim to enlist and enter the workforce, enabling them to contribute to Israeli society.
A former lawmaker from the Ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, Moshe Roth, told Fox News Digital that the roots of the debate go back to Israel’s founding. «From the establishment of the state, it was understood that, as the people of the book, it is vital for the country’s spiritual and national existence that a portion of the population devote themselves to Torah study,» he said.
Roth noted that about 20 years ago, Israel’s High Court deemed the status quo arrangement illegal for violating the principle of equality. Since then, the Knesset has repeatedly tried — and failed — to pass legislation addressing the Haredi draft.
Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu visit the Tel Nof Airbase on June 16, 2025, accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. (GPO)
«It has become politically charged and weaponized. Many parties use it as a tool to win votes, which has made passing a law extremely difficult. Even when the Knesset succeeds, the High Court often rules that it falls short,» Roth said. «Since Oct. 7, the issue has grown even more sensitive.»
According to Roth, the IDF resisted drafting Haredim due to cultural reasons. «The army is progressive, and the yeshiva students would change its character and deter women from being integrated. It will change the situation dramatically; the military is not too keen about that,» he said.
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During a tour of the Gaza Strip late last month IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir called for enlistment from all sectors.
«Israel’s security requires the full partnership of all parts of the nation. This is a civic duty and a national imperative. I call on everyone to enlist and contribute their share equally; this is the call of the hour,» Zamir said.
Netzach Yehuda soldiers reading from a torah scroll during the battalion training. Netzach Yehuda is a Haredi battalion of the Kfir brigade in the IDF. (Hillel Maeir/TPS-IL)
In the interim, the IDF is making strides to accommodate religious soldiers. In January, dozens of Ultra-Orthodox recruits joined the military’s new Hasmonean Brigade. The Netzah Yehuda Battalion, formerly Nahal Haredi, enables Haredi men to serve as combat soldiers while observing strict religious practices.
In June, the IDF announced it would issue more than 50,000 draft orders to Ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students and increase enforcement against draft evasion.
«We are attempting to change a situation that has existed for 77 years,» Likud’s Edelstein told Fox News Digital. «It’s a big and difficult shift, a scary change, but it’s necessary.»
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«We have no choice — both for military and social reasons,» he said.
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Iranians across the country could be seen and heard celebrating the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after coordinated Israeli strikes overnight.
In one video, Iranians near Karaj, Iran, outside the capital of Tehran, took to the streets, honked their horns and cheered.
In social media videos, Iranians in Tehran cheered from their apartments, playing loud music and setting off fireworks as the news spread.
In Fuladshahr, people packed the streets, waving their arms in the air, whistling, honking and cheering over the news.
In Borazjan, Iran, celebrants chanted and, in Mamasani, they waved flags and danced.
People celebrate in Madrid, Spain. (Carlos Lujan/Europa Press via Getty Images)
People also celebrated in the Iranian cities of Shiraz and Abadan, «where the people are out on the streets till the wee hours of the night in celebration of an Iran that is on the brink of finding its freedom after almost five decades,» according to Lisa Daftari, editor at The Foreign Desk.
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Iranian people also cheered the news in other parts of the world, such as Madrid, London, Berlin, Armenia and the United States.
People celebrated the death of Khamenei on Saturday in Berlin. (Christophe Gateau/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
«Iranian people all over the world, from Los Angeles to Tehran, are on the streets celebrating [in] sheer jubilation over the dawn of a new and free Iran,» Daftari told Fox News Digital.
«Iranians poured onto the streets cheering, clapping, waving the lion and sun flag, dancing openly and singing the old national anthem. It’s hard to imagine a people so starved for freedom, so desperate for justice, that they are cheering military strikes on their own soil as the price of liberation.»
A woman holds up an Iranian flag as people celebrate the death of Khamenei in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
In Los Angeles, home to the largest Iranian community in the U.S., hundreds came out to wave Iranian and American flags on Saturday.
Some people also held signs bearing expressions such as, «Make Iran Great Again.»
«I love America. I love everything about this country,» Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad told Fox News Saturday.
«I grew up in a country where I was brainwashed to say, ‘Death to America,’ the same country — how ironic — the same country that saved my life three times and is now helping my people in Iran. They’re celebrating. They’re celebrating out of joy.
A family celebrates while watching Fox News in Vienna, Va. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)
«Thank you, President Trump, for taking decisive action. This is how true leadership looks like.»
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Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, like Boston; Washington, D.C.; and New York City held competing anti-war protests, as did cities in Europe.
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INTERNACIONAL
El golpe fulminante de EE.UU. e Israel para matar al líder supremo de Irán, Ali Khamenei
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Jeb Bush commends former rival Trump’s Iran operation: ‘This is their time to take their country back’
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FIRST ON FOX: A major public policy nonprofit co-led by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush praised President Donald Trump for ordering Saturday’s military strikes against Iran.
United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) — was formed in 2008 by Ambassador Mark Wallace, who held a United Nations-centered post in Bush’s brother’s administration, and former George H.W. Bush diplomat Dennis Ross — to combat threats posed by the Islamic Republic.
The group has been on the front lines of highlighting Iran’s human rights abuses and attacks on Americans and advising policymakers and the business community about dangers posed by Tehran.
The organization counsels existing and would-be commercial partners of Iran regarding the legal, financial and reputational risks of that kind of commerce.
«UANI salutes the courage and professionalism of American and Israeli service members carrying out this historic mission against the Iranian regime,» Bush and Wallace told Fox News Digital Saturday.
Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, left, and Jeb Bush take part in a presidential debate at the Reagan Library Sept. 16, 2015, in Simi Valley, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
«We applaud President Trump for his courageous decision to launch this military operation. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has unleashed terror, violence and misery — against its own people and across the region — while threatening the United States, Israel and our allies.»
Bush, who ran against Trump in a bruising 2016 primary, and Wallace noted that many presidents tried to bring Iran into the «peaceful community of nations» but were not able to finish the job.
«This president engaged extensively and in good faith to achieve a diplomatic solution,» they said after Trump indicated as recently as last week he wanted to negotiate terms.
«The regime chose escalation and continued its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The responsibility for this moment rests squarely with Ayatollah Khamenei.»
Khamenei, 86, was declared dead by Israeli sources by late afternoon.
Bush and Wallace added it was clear the joint American-Israeli operation was directed not at Iran, the country and citizenry, but at Khamenei’s «lethal capabilities.»
The Iranian people, they said, have long suffered under repression and that Trump’s message since the strikes began is one that should be embraced by all Americans: «We aim to see Iran free, prosperous, and at peace. This is their time to take their great country back.»
«The Butcher of Tehran is dead,» Bush and Wallace added in a separate public statement.
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Bush added in a statement on X that «Operation Epic Fury marks a historic mission against the Iranian regime.»
«We salute the courage and professionalism of American and Israeli service members and commend for his courageous decision,» he added.
Bush’s relationship with Trump has appeared to warm since their bitter feuds of a decade ago.
During the 2016 sweeps, Trump nicknamed the Republican Party scion «Low Energy Jeb,» while Bush quipped that the mogul would not be able to «insult your way to the presidency» after the eventual victor mocked an ad that former first lady Barbara Bush filmed for her son.
While governor, Bush made improving public education a hallmark of his administration in Tallahassee. Bush implemented stricter proficiency standards in elementary education and signed what was dubbed the «A+ plan,» making Florida the first state to require clear letter grades on student performance.
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He recently praised the Trump administration’s overtures toward universal school choice and federal block grants as a «transformational opportunity.»
«The Trump administration has a chance to shift the power dynamic back to the states, where policymakers are uniquely equipped to understand and address the diverse needs of their students, schools, and communities,» he added in a column in Education Week.
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