Hilariously, due to their supreme court as of this week, Israel is now able to draft "Ultra-Orthodox" Jews. The ridiculous-looking ones with the huge hats and robes.
For those that don't know, when Israel was founded, the Jews were concerned that a lot of their "Spiritual Heritage" was lost in the holocaust and needed to be protected.
So they selected around 400 or so families of 'Religious Scholars' and gave them rights and protections that would make most monarchs blush. Some of that included:
- Never having to work, because "Being religious is their Divine duty"
- Having the government pay all their living expenses and give them "Discretionary Income" on top of it
- Exemption from all taxes
- Free Healthcare
- Exemption from mandatory military training and the draft
- Exemption from public schooling requirements for children
And a load of other legal protections and preferential treatment from the government. And this
"Ultra-Orthodox" status AND its benefits were passed down to their descendants to "Encourage bloodlines of religious scholars and spiritual leaders"
So, what did those families do? They went MAXIMUM JEW and exploited it. Each of those families started having 10+ children. Then those children would have 10+ children. And so on, exponentially growing.
So now it's reached a point where a full 25% of all conscription-age men are "Ultra Orthodox". And the families pool their government tugboats to actually amass substantial fortunes and a lot of political influence.
A quick Google search shows how insane this is:
The ultra-Orthodox make up 13% of Israel's 10 million population, a figure expected to reach 19% by 2035 due to their high birth rates. The conscription waiver keeps the majority of the community in seminaries and out of the workforce, hindering economic growth and placing a substantial welfare burden on middle-class taxpayers.
With the supreme court overturning the conscription waiver, we may actually see these weirdos forced to do something with their lives.