Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has announced he will back a controversial plan to compel ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arab Israelis to complete compulsory military or community service.

The move came hours after thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv to demand the country´s Orthodox and Arab citizens share the burden of service.

Protesters are calling for a change to the law that exempts ultra- orthodox men from national service so they can pursue their religious studies leaving secular Israelis, who are called up at the age of 18 for two to three years and then obliged to perform stints of reserve duty until the age of 45, to man the nation´s army.

Apparently buckling under the considerable political and public pressure of the protest, Mr Netanyahu on Sunday morning accepted the recommendations of a report into the issue led by Kadima´s Yohanan Plesner, which he had previously dismissed, calling for a new Haredi enlistment law. The prime minister´s Likud party members voted for an immediate debate on the issue of Israeli Arab service.

The prime minister told his cabinet ministers on Sunday morning "the decisive majority of Israelis, including many in the ultra-orthodox sector, understand that change must come. We are citizens of one state and we must all participate in bearing the burden of service to the state. We intend to give positive incentives to those who serve, negative incentives to those who evade "

Protest leaders received the news with wary optimism. "You can never know but hopefully this is a victory, not against the government but for a more equitable Israel," said Lilach Meir, a representative of the Union of Israeli Students. (© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2012. 07/09/12)