Can the Gaza War Bridge the Secular-Haredi Military Draft Divide?

The Gaza War is Israel’s longest battle since its War of Independence in 1948. Wartime demands have put an outsized strain on Israel’s army, reopening the debate over the ultra-orthodox (Haredi) draft and the broader secular-religious fault line in Israeli society. While the Haredim have historically enjoyed a blanket exemption from military service, a June 25th decision by the High Court of Israel overturned that status quo. In the weeks since, nearly 3,000 draft orders have been sent out to members of the Haredi community.

Will crisis create opportunity? On this episode of Decision Points, two unique voices from the secular and Haredi communities—Yohanan Plesner and Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer—join David Makovsky to discuss how the Gaza war could narrow the secular-Haredi divide in Israeli society, finding points of divergence and common ground. Plesner is the President of the Israel Democracy Institute and former member of the Knesset with the Kadima Party. Rabbi Pfeffer is the Editor in Chief of Tzarich Iyun, a Haredi thought magazine, and former head of the Haredi division at the Tikvah Fund.

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