Opposition leader Yair Lapid says ultra-Orthodox must serve in Israel's military

Yair Lapid said he was opposed to the military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews, saying the country's military “is stretched to the limit”.

“If there is a flare-up in the north, there are not enough soldiers to manage it,” he said, in reference to a possible war with Hezbollah.

“Today, there are 66,000 ultra-Orthodox youth of conscription age. That’s 105 battalions that don’t enlist,” he said.

Lapid has advanced a bill that would cut state funding to those who evade military or civil service.

Yitzhak Yosef, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, previously said ultra-Orthodox Jews would leave the country en masse if they are drafted into the military.

An Israeli watchdog group says Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef “crossed every red line” when he threatened a mass exodus by ultra-Orthodox Jews if they are forced to serve in the military as it wages war on Palestinians in Gaza.

In response to those comments, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a watchdog group, demanded the Great Rabbinical Court of Appeals “to investigate the complaint, and if it is justified, to remove Rabbi Yosef from his position as judge” on the court. Yosef serves on the appeals court.