Israeli public divide on conscription becoming ‘deeper and deeper’
The Israeli government is considering extending an emergency law that delays the age military reservists can retire from the service. That comes as a committee is discussing making conscription mandatory for ultra-Orthodox religious students.
Meron Rapoport, an editor at Israeli news outlet Local Call, has told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army needs more personnel after suffering losses throughout the war on Gaza and in cross-border attacks with Hezbollah.
Israeli army creates division for retirement-age reserves due to ‘urgent need’
The Israeli army is creating a new division for reservists over the retirement age of 40 to meet the “urgent need for more troops”, an Israeli Army Radio correspondent said.
The division of five reserve brigades is in the “advance stages” of planning and will draw on other Israelis who were previously exempt from serving, Doron Kadosh said in a post on X.
Israeli military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi recently said enlisting draft-age ultra-Orthodox Jews was “an obvious necessity” while visiting the site of a deadly Hamas ambush on Israeli troops, in Gaza.
As we also reported earlier, the Israeli government has also supported a draft bill extending the retirement age for reservists despite a backlash from the Israeli public.
Ex-Knesset member who cited Hitler in speech about Gaza to speak at Australian event
A far-right former Israeli lawmaker who quoted Adolf Hitler while discussing the takeover of Gaza and expulsion of Palestinians is scheduled to speak at an event hosted by the Australian Jewish Association this week.
Moshe Feiglin will speak in an online event called Israel 2024 and Beyond on Wednesday evening, according to the Association’s website. In a video shared recently on social media, Feiglin said: “As Hitler said, ‘I cannot live if one Jew is left’. We can’t live here if one ‘Islamo-Nazi’ remains in Gaza.”
He added he wants to “turn Gaza Hebrew”. Feiglin was a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party from 2013 to 2015 before launching his far-right Zehut party.
