Netanyahu faces huge challenge after court ruling on military exemption

Israeli police face ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstrators at a protest against conscription into the armed forces in Jerusalem. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition government after the country’s supreme court ordered an end to government subsidies from Monday for many ultra-Orthodox men who do not serve in the army.

The ruling follows a series of delays by the government in presenting a proposal to the court aimed at enhancing the military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men, who have historically been exempt from conscription.