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An impending crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the administration and dividing the state.

Popular sentiment on the issue has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of war, and this is now perhaps the most volatile political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Legislators are currently considering a draft bill to terminate the special status given to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in Torah study, established when the modern Israel was declared in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice two decades ago. Interim measures to extend it were officially terminated by the bench last year, pressuring the cabinet to commence conscription of the community.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community reported for duty, according to army data shared with lawmakers.

Tensions Spill Into Public View

Tensions are erupting onto the streets, with parliamentarians now deliberating a new legislative proposal to compel Haredi males into army duty alongside other secular Israelis.

Two representatives were harassed this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are furious with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to rescue enforcement personnel who were targeted by a big group of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they sought to apprehend a suspected draft-evader.

These enforcement actions have led to the development of a new communication network dubbed "Black Alert" to send out instant alerts through ultra-Orthodox communities and summon protesters to prevent arrests from taking place.

"We're a Jewish country," stated one protester. "One cannot oppose religious practice in a Jewish country. It doesn't work."

A World Apart

However the changes blowing through Israel have failed to penetrate the walls of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in Bnei Brak, an religious community on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, scholars study together to analyze Judaism's religious laws, their brightly coloured writing books standing out against the seats of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the leader of the academy, the spiritual guide, explained. "By studying Torah, we safeguard the soldiers wherever they are. This constitutes our service."

Haredi Jews maintain that continuous prayer and spiritual pursuit guard Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its defense as its tanks and air force. That belief was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the earlier decades, he said, but he acknowledged that public attitudes are shifting.

Increasing Public Pressure

The Haredi community has significantly increased its percentage of the nation's citizens over the last seventy years, and now accounts for around one in seven. What began as an exemption for a few hundred religious students turned into, by the start of the 2023 war, a body of tens of thousands of men exempt from the draft.

Opinion polls suggest backing for drafting the Haredim is growing. Research in July showed that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - including a significant majority in his own coalition allies - backed consequences for those who declined a draft order, with a solid consensus in supporting cutting state subsidies, passports, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are individuals who reside in this country without giving anything back," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an excuse not to fulfill your duty to your nation," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to engage in religious study all day."

Voices from Within a Religious City

Support for extending the draft is also found among traditional Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who lives near the seminary and notes religious Zionists who do serve in the military while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that this community don't perform military service," she said. "It is unjust. I too follow the Torah, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the scripture and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak maintains a small memorial in her city to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Rows of images {