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A gathering crisis over conscripting Haredi men into the Israeli army is posing a risk to the administration and splitting the country.

Popular sentiment on the question has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of conflict, and this is now arguably the most volatile political issue facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Struggle

Lawmakers are reviewing a piece of legislation to terminate the special status given to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in Torah study, established when the the nation was founded in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Stopgap solutions to continue it were finally concluded by the judiciary last year, compelling the administration to commence conscription of the ultra-Orthodox population.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees enlisted, according to army data shared with lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Onto the Streets

Tensions are erupting onto the public squares, with lawmakers now discussing a new legislative proposal to force Haredi males into army duty alongside other secular Israelis.

Two Haredi politicians were targeted this month by radical elements, who are incensed with parliament's discussion of the proposed law.

And last week, a specialized force had to rescue enforcement personnel who were targeted by a large crowd of Haredi men as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

These arrests have prompted the establishment of a new alert system called "Black Alert" to send out instant alerts through the religious sector and mobilize demonstrators to block enforcement from occurring.

"We're a Jewish country," said one protester. "It's impossible to battle Judaism in a Jewish state. That is untenable."

A World Apart

Yet the transformations sweeping across Israel have not yet breached the confines of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an Haredi enclave on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars study together to analyze Judaism's religious laws, their brightly coloured notepads standing out against the seats of white shirts and head coverings.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are engaged in learning," the dean of the seminary, a senior rabbi, said. "Through religious study, we shield the troops in the field. This constitutes our service."

Haredi Jews maintain that continuous prayer and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's military, and are as essential to its military success as its advanced weaponry. This conviction was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the past, the rabbi said, but he acknowledged that the nation is evolving.

Rising Public Pressure

The Haredi community has more than doubled its proportion of Israel's population over the last seventy years, and now constitutes 14%. What began as an deferment for a few hundred Torah scholars turned into, by the beginning of the Gaza war, a group of tens of thousands of men exempt from the draft.

Opinion polls show support for ending the exemption is growing. Research in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - even almost three-quarters in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - backed consequences for those who refused a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in approving removing privileges, passports, or the franchise.

"It seems to me there are citizens who reside in this nation without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, no matter how devout, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your state," stated Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to avoid service just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from Inside Bnei Brak

Advocacy of extending the draft is also found among traditional Jews beyond the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who is a neighbor of the academy and notes observant but non-Haredi Jews who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"It makes me angry that this community don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

She manages a small memorial in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both religious and secular, who were fallen in war. Lines of photographs {