Netanyahu asks Israeli court to defer deadline on ultra-Orthodox conscription

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israel's top court to defer a 31 March deadline for the government to come up with a new military conscription plan addressing the exemptions granted to members of the ultra-Orthodox community.

While the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to the request, it ruled separately that state subsidies for military-age ultra-Orthodox men studying in seminaries, rather than serving in uniform, be suspended as of 1 April.

The politically powerful ultra-Orthodox community make up roughly 13 percent of Israeli society. They receive exemptions from military service if they are studying full-time in a religious seminary.

The exemptions, along with the government stipends the students receive, have caused anger in the wider Israeli public amid the ongoing war in Gaza.