Israel Court Calls Ultra-Orthodox Men Into Army as Crisis Brews

Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to start conscripting ultra Orthodox men into military service. The landmark decision could test Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition, which depends on religious parties to function. So joining us now is Ethan Bronner, Bloomberg senior editor in Tel Aviv. Ethan, just walk us through how significant this decision from Israel's Supreme Court actually is. Good morning, Germano. Let me just hold up the daily newspaper here of the main daily. Main selling paper which says historic day. One nation, one army, give the army the chance to win. So in terms of how the society views that, this is an extremely significant development because you have this portion of the society that I redeem, the ultra Orthodox who have been separated from the central institution of this country over these last 76 years. It didn't matter so much when they were such a small number in the beginning, but they have enormous families and they're now 1314% of the population. So in terms of a society, it's very important. It's also important politically because, as you said, the two ultra orthodox parties are central to this government's coalition and they are angry about the decision. So that leads me to my next question, Ethan, which is whether or not it's likely to endanger this coalition. 2 of of the parties of the coalition are from the ultra Orthodox side of things. Is there a risk that they leave or they pull out of the government? There is a small risk, but I think that ultimately they've been preparing for this. And they also, although ultra Orthodox parties have joined the governments of both left and right in Israel's history, they have essentially moved rightward in the last 20 years. And I think they have come to the conclusion that the the best thing they can do is stay with this government and limit the so-called damage. In other words, minimize the number of ultra orthodox young men who are conscripted in the coming years. That's so my instinct is they will stay with the government. So short term, likely to stay with the government. What about long term? I mean, long term, I think that, you know, the real question is will the society be able to step up and form a situation, create a situation in which. These folks who are who are who whose lifestyle depends on segregation from the rest of society to join a military which which insists on yet men and women being together. There are issues they have with extra kosher food. There are all kinds of things, but. But the key thing here to remember also is that because Israel has been at war since October and expects to continue to be at war, perhaps in Lebanon, the desire for young men to increase the size of the army has grown and people want more guys in the army. We'll leave it there.