Israeli Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef calls on unemployed Israelis not to join army

Top Israeli Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has called for unemployed Israelis not to join the army amid anger over the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews, according to Anadolu.

"Even an idle person should not join the army," Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas Party, a key ally in the Israeli government, said in statements carried by Israeli Channel 13.

He said that religious school students “went to the army and were ruined. They all became secular.”

The Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, which represent religious Jews in the government, have long pushed for exemptions from military service for the ultra-Orthodox Jews, or Haredi.

The Haredi say that their primary role in life is to study the Torah and reject military service, despite a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court in June that mandated conscription for them, similar to other Israelis.