Israel's Supreme Court in the context of Hebrew acronym

Since the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, fixed-term military service has been compulsory in Israel. The conscription laws of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) apply to Jews (males and females), Druze (males only), and Circassians (males only). Because the Druze and Circassian communities are less populous, their women are exempted from mandatory military service altogether. Women from the Jewish community are not exempted, but serve for slightly shorter terms than their male counterparts. The IDF does not conscript non-Druze Arab citizens of Israel, though their men and women may enlist voluntarily.

Unique among the country's Jewish-majority population are the Haredi Jews, who previously enjoyed full exemption from the IDF through a special arrangement called Torato Umanuto, which was organized by Israel's founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion. The arrangement became increasingly controversial in Israeli society, with growing discontent towards the increasingly populous Haredi community not "sharing the burden" of national duty. In June 2024, Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Haredi Jews were eligible for compulsory service, ending nearly eight decades of exemption. The army began drafting Haredi men the following month.