Israel’s Supreme Court Rules the Military Must Draft Ultra-Orthodox Jews

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The court ruled there was no basis to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from service, a decision that threatened to split Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government amid the war in Gaza.

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, a decision that threatened to split Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government amid the war in Gaza.

In a unanimous decision, nine judges held that there was no legal basis for the longstanding military exemption given to many ultra-Orthodox religious students. Given the absence of a law distinguishing between seminarians and other men of draft age, the court ruled, the country’s compulsory service laws must similarly apply to the ultra-Orthodox minority.

In a country where military service is compulsory for most Jewish men and women, the exemption for the ultra-Orthodox has long been a source of contention for secular Israelis. But anger over the group’s special treatment has grown as the war in Gaza has stretched into its ninth month, requiring tens of thousands of reservists to serve multiple tours and costing the lives of hundreds of soldiers. » | Aaron Boxerman, Reporting from Jerusalem | Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Manliness, Prestige and Cash: How Military Service Is Sold on Russian TV

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Times tracked several months of Russian state messaging in the Kremlin’s effort to recruit soldiers.

A supermarket security guard, a taxi driver, a guy at the gym. The Russian government has a message for all of them: Aren’t you a man?

And don’t you want to earn more money?

Last spring, the Russian military kicked off a new recruitment drive for the war in Ukraine, seeking to replace tens of thousands of dead and wounded without having to resort to an unpopular draft. For the last four months, The New York Times has tracked how the campaign played out on Russian state television and social media, and found that recruitment messages focused on the Kremlin’s official rationale for the invasion — an existential threat from the West against Russians — played only a supporting role.

Rather, there were frequent appeals to masculinity, sometimes voiced by soldiers’ wives and other women interviewed on television news. There were incessant reminders of above-average pay and benefits for military servicemen. And the messages — appearing both in video ads produced by the Defense Ministry and on regular TV newscasts — stress the ease of signing up, promising relief from Russia’s notorious bureaucracy. » | Anton Troianovski, Alina Lobzina, Sarah Kerr and Natalie Reneau | Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Poofs need not apply. Only real men kill. – © Mark Alexander