5 April—The gospel from Israel is that the Beit haMishpat haElyon on Monday decided that the Haredim could be drafted. In plain English, the good news from Israel is that the little Jewish nation’s supreme court decided that the ultra-orthodox Jews who have always been exempt from mandatory military service no longer can get away with dodging the draft on religious grounds.

About a thousand properly motivated Haredi men volunteered after the 7 October Hamas blitz.

Most Jewish Israelis have been required to do military service for obvious reasons. And for somewhat less obvious but entirely understandable reasons Super-duper-orthodox Jews, most of whom do nothing of value to the state of Israel (or anyone else), have nevertheless been able to live as parasites while screwing government as well as the lives of most Israelis, who are no more observant than normal people of any religious persuasion.

For instance, public transportation throughout Israel is pretty well shut down on Saturdays, for purely religious reasons—in other words, everybody is inconvenienced just to humor the Haredim.

“I will never enter the army. For us, studying the Torah is everything. We live by the word of God, who is above everything. We will follow the directions of our rabbis,” one super-frummer (ultra-pious layabout) asserted. “Our community members in the government will fight for us. You see, studying the Torah, especially in these days of conflict, is a way for us to fight the war.” Sure. Do they study the Torah in bomb shelters? And the Israeli government—although the state of Israel is not a theocracy—pays them to do it. Welfare gone wild.

“The army can come here and say whatever they want,” another Haredi kvetched. “But we only answer to God. We will not enlist because studying the Torah has always been our only objective.” Sanctimonious schmuck.

Both boys left out praying. That’s right, all they do is study and pray, study and pray. Or pray and study, pray and study. And, unfortunately, their community members have had far, far too much influence in the Knesset (parliament) in the almost 76 years Israel has existed. Most Israeli governments, including Netanyahu’s, depend on Haredi support. Even the opposition parties kiss the collective Haredi tuches.

Among other parasitic protests, the objectionable super-frummers have burned Israeli flags and military uniforms.

Estimates of ultra-orthodox males now eligible for conscription lie somewhere between the Israel Defense Forces’ number of about 13,000 to other knowledgeable sources’ 60,000. Haredi women are expected to retain their draft exemption, although most Jewish women are draft-eligible.

In the Knesset, both the rationally secular pros and dogmatically religious antis of the Haredi draft issue are adamant. Both sides promise to “walk out” of the legislature if the other side prevails. Talk about a hung parliament . . .