In light of the Israeli military's announcement that ultra-Orthodox Jews will be drafted into the army, a religious party has left the Israeli government. It is leaving the government because it has not defended the exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews, the United Torah Judaism (VTJ) party said Monday night. This means that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only has the slimmest possible majority of 61 seats.

VTJ's withdrawal will take effect 48 hours after its announcement. The second ultra-Orthodox party in the government, Shas, said it wanted to discuss remaining in the government on Wednesday. This is necessary in light of the "serious and unacceptable attacks on the status of Torah scholars." If Shas also leaves the governing coalition, Netanyahu would lose his majority in the Knesset. On Tuesday, during a visit to a military base where ultra-Orthodox troops are stationed, Netanyahu called for "mobilizing all the forces of Jewish society to fully preserve our state and protect our people."

Criticism of the Ultra-Orthodox Party The VTJ's decision, however, was widely criticized. "These politicians are trying to prevent young Orthodox Jews from joining their heroic comrades who are defending the Israeli people with their lives," said former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Opposition politician Avigdor Lieberman accused the VTJ in X of not "thinking about the fighters on the ground, who need more comrades in arms to share the burden with them."

Military Service in Israel Is Mandatory In Israel, military service is mandatory for both men and women. For decades, ultra-Orthodox Talmud students were exempt. This has long been a source of controversy and is becoming increasingly so after more than a year and a half of war against the radical Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In June of last year, the Supreme Court finally ordered the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox.

In early July of this year, the Israeli army announced that it would send a total of 54,000 recruitment orders to the ultra-Orthodox in the coming weeks. The 1.3 million ultra-Orthodox Jews represent about 14 percent of Israel's Jewish population. Among them are 66,000 young men of military age.