Israel's ultra-Orthodox conscription bill

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

Kate Adie introduces stories from Israel, Honduras, Turkey and Lebanon, Georgia and Russia.

Israel is facing an impending crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army, and the issue is threatening to undermine Israel's government and split the country. Lucy Williamson reports from the city of Bnei Brak.

Donald Trump surprised many in his own Republican party this week when he signed a pardon releasing the former president of Honduras from a West Virginia prison. Juan Orlando Hernández was serving 45 years for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy. Will Grant gauges the reaction in Tegucigalpa - and pays a visit to the former president's wife.

Pope Leo chose Turkey and Lebanon as the destinations for his first overseas trip as Pontiff, stopping off in the Turkish city of Iznik – scene of the First Council of Nicaea seventeen hundred years ago, which shaped Christian beliefs for centuries. Aleem Maqbool has been travelling with the Pope.

It’s been a year since demonstrators took to the streets of Tbilisi to protest the Georgian government's suspension of accession talks with the European Union. Rayhan Demytrie reports from the capital Tblisi, where demonstrators continue to voice their objections every day.

It’s nearly four years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, and despite heavy losses to his own country, President Putin seems convinced now is not the moment to stop. Despite punitive laws which discourage people from speaking out, discreet conversations reveal a strong desire among Russian citizens to end the war. Ben Tavener reveals the insights he has gleaned while out walking his dog.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling Production coordinators: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello. Today we're in Honduras,
0:08.7	awaiting the return of the former president convicted of conspiring to import cocaine,
0:14.7	now walking free thanks to a pardon from Donald Trump. In the Georgian capital, Tbilisi,
0:20.7	we mark a year of anti-government protests,
0:24.3	as talks on EU membership remain on pause. We're travelling on the papal plain with Pope Leo,
0:31.1	as he embarks on his first foreign trip through Turkey and Lebanon. And finally, in a park in Moscow, we find out what locals
0:39.6	really think about the war and the world when they're outwalking their dogs. But first,
0:45.9	an impending crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army is threatening
0:53.1	to undermine Israel's government and split the country.
0:56.7	Lawmakers are considering a draft bill to end the exemption granted to ultra-orthodox men
1:02.6	enrolled in full-time religious study, first established when the state of Israel was declared in
1:08.5	1948. Ultra-Orthodox parties are crucial allies in Mr. Netanyahu's governing coalition,
1:16.0	but the issue is seen by many as part of a wider conflict around the identity of the Jewish state
1:21.8	and the place of religion within it.
1:24.5	Lucy Williamson has been following the story.
1:30.3	Slipping unnoticed into a yeshiva is harder than you might imagine, especially as a woman. To be clear, we were there at the invitation of
1:36.1	the school's rabbi. My male colleagues were already inside the Kisar Rahamimiyahean yeshiva in
1:41.2	B'nai Bragg, filming the rows of teenage boys in white shirts and black
1:45.6	skullcaps, studying religious texts in the classroom upstairs.
1:50.0	I and my female producer Sam, modestly dressed in long loose skirts and tops, had been told
1:56.4	to wait in the car.
1:58.1	But in a last-minute concession, the rabbi's office said we too could enter the
	...

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