Israel’s New Internal Conflict

Last Wednesday night in Israel, the Alon Shvut residence of Israeli Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg was attacked by a mob. The mob consisted of ultra-Orthodox extremists. The Justice and his wife were home at the time. Sohlberg’s wife, Meira Sohlberg described the riot as a “pogrom” and the shattered windows as “Kristallnacht”, meaning the “Night of Broken Glass”. This event refers to the Nazis raiding and destroying the Jews’ houses in 1938.

The reason behind the event traces back to something that happened two years ago, when Noam Sohlberg ruled that ultra-Orthodox Jews shall return to military service. However, many still have not reported for service.

The ultra-Orthodox Jews, also known in Jewish as Haredi, have divided themselves from the rest of the Israeli population following the exemption order. In the past, they were granted the exemption because of their full-time Torah studies. For regular Israelis, military service is almost mandatory when they turn 18. Under Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the ultra-Orthodox rebellion is significant as his government is mainly backed by them. However, Netanyahu told his law-enforcement authorities to take a hard line against them.

Now, his military has reported that they are short of a lot of people following the rebellion. Reservists have been called up repeatedly, often having to service for 100 or more days.

However, not all Haredi members have opposed the exemption, as few have enrolled into the military for service. The rest of the Haredi population believe that the young Haredis who go into the military will come out secular. For those who refuse to report for military duty after receiving their call up, they would get arrested. Some Haredi people had this happen to them. This event caused another rebellion a few days ago in a city near Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh.

Two ultra-Orthodox parties in Israel first condemned what happened outside Justice Sohlberg’s house. However, at the same time, they denounced their claims that there was “the ongoing campaign of persecution and trampling of Torah scholars by the Supreme Court justices.”

Israeli president Isaac Herzog spoke last month against what he described as a horrible time for Israel. He describes Israel as starting to have “thuggery” creep into its governance. Herzog backed his claims with details that Jewish mobs were attacking many Palestinian people in occupied West Bank. Also, he stated that Israeli soldiers were abusing many Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody.

The attack on Justice Sohlberg’s house shows that the war in the Middle East has affected many people. Ethnic people are starting to dislike the rules their country has made for them. These times have hit hard on Israel, as they have started to attack many places and people without enough reason at hand. President Herzog called for unity among all people and an end to political violence, stating, “We are a step away from disaster.”