Israel's Supreme Court moved swiftly on Wednesday to suspend a law passed just one day earlier that would have protected ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from arrest for refusing compulsory military service. The court issued the temporary order after opposition politicians, including former prime ministers Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, filed urgent appeals. The court said the law unconstitutionally benefits a single segment of the population and pledged to treat the case as a priority, scheduling hearings as soon as possible.

The legislation, passed by the Knesset — Israel's 120-seat unicameral parliament — by 58 votes to 54, would have suspended until 30 November the arrest of ultra-Orthodox students enrolled in yeshivas, the Jewish religious seminaries, provided they dedicated at least 45 hours a week to religious study. Ongoing criminal proceedings against those already facing legal action would also have been paused. The bill was among a series of measures pushed through in the final days before the Knesset dissolved ahead of elections scheduled for 27 October.

The controversy over ultra-Orthodox conscription has deep roots. Since Israel's founding in 1948, ultra-Orthodox Jews engaged full-time in religious study have been exempt from military service. But pressure to end that arrangement has grown sharply as the country wages simultaneous conflicts on multiple fronts. In summer 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that there was no longer a legal basis for blanket exemptions, and the military began issuing draft orders to some 72,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 24. Very few complied. Military chief Eyal Zamir said the new law stood