The High Court of Justice’s interim order on Thursday barring the government from funding the monthly stipends of at least some ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students was welcomed by war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz as well as a range of opposition politicians, and slammed by Haredi lawmakers.

In a tweet, Gantz, a former IDF chief of staff, wrote that “the issue is not the High Court of Justice or the attorney general, who does her job faithfully, but our need for soldiers during a difficult war, and the need in our society for everyone to take part in the privilege to serve the country.”

He added: “The High Court ruled the obvious today, the time has come for the government to do the obvious. It’s time for action,” he added.

For the last few years, Gantz has tried to advance a plan that would see all Israelis, including ultra-Orthodox and Arab, serve in either the military or national service once they finish high school.

The dispute over unequal service is one that has been brewing in Israel for decades, with successive governments repeatedly delaying attempts to legislate the issue after a 2012 High Court ruling that invalidated a previous arrangement to provide exemptions to yeshiva students.

The court ruled on Thursday that after a government resolution from last year delaying the issue expires on March 31, the government will be barred from providing funding to ultra-Orthodox yeshivas that enroll students eligible for IDF enlistment — as the legal framework for deferring their military service will no longer exist.

Outgoing Labor chief Merav Michaeli also welcomed the ruling, calling it the “bare minimum, which should have happened a long time ago.”

“It’s truly not against ultra-Orthodox and not against studying Torah,” she insisted. “It is for the law of the land, which says that everyone serves in the citizens’ army – one of the fundamentals on which the existence of our country rests.”

Former Meretz MK Yair Golan, who is running to replace Michaeli as leader of Labor, said the ruling “reflects what the Haredi leadership should have realized by itself: Our Haredi brothers, your part in society and the national tasks that stand before us do not allow your continued evasion of military service.”

He added that they had to take responsibility, because “your brothers and sisters will not fight for you forever.”

Golan, 61, a former deputy IDF chief of staff, saved many people on October 7 during Hamas’s attack against southern Israel, driving in and out of the Supernova music festival area and collecting fleeing partygoers.

National Unity MK Matan Kahana responded on Thursday to those in the ultra-Orthodox community who said they were offended by the court’s ruling.

“It’s unfortunate, but that’s how people who serve have felt for years,” he said. “I pray that from this crisis, we can reach an outline with widespread consensus.”

Meanwhile, the ruling faced heavy criticism from ultra-Orthodox officials as well as many lawmakers who sit with the Haredi factions in the ruling coalition.

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri slammed the decision, declaring it a “mark of Cain” and “an unprecedented maltreatment of Torah scholars in the Jewish state.”

“Precisely in the days when the people of Israel need the mercy of heaven in the south and in the north, the High Court of Justice takes an offensive approach toward the Torah scholars on whom the world stands,” he said in a statement.

“Shas will continue to fight for the right of yeshiva students to study the Torah and will examine its next steps,” he added.

United Torah Judaism Chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf claimed the High Court’s decision was intended as “severe harm to those who toil in and study Torah, which here in Israel — the Jewish nation — that is a sign of disgrace.”

“The State of Israel was founded to be the home of the Jewish people whose Torah is the Bible of truth. Without the Torah, we have no right to exist.”

Otzma Yehudit MK Amichai Eliyahu said the High Court was acting like a cardiologist trying to treat a patient suffering from mental health issues.

“Their blunt interference is extremely severe,” he said.

Sam Sokol and Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.