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A gathering political storm over drafting Haredi men into the military is posing a risk to the administration and splitting the country.

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

The Constitutional Conflict

Legislators are currently considering a draft bill to terminate the special status awarded to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in Torah study, created when the the nation was declared in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice almost 20 years ago. Stopgap solutions to maintain it were formally ended by the court last year, pressuring the government to begin drafting the community.

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

Tensions Erupt Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with lawmakers now deliberating a new conscription law to require Haredi males into national service together with other secular Israelis.

Two Haredi politicians were confronted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are incensed with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

Recently, a specialized force had to assist Military Police officers who were targeted by a sizeable mob of community members as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

These arrests have prompted the establishment of a new alert system dubbed "Black Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and summon activists to stop detentions from occurring.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked an activist. "One cannot oppose the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. It doesn't work."

A Realm Set Aside

Yet the shifts blowing through Israel have failed to penetrate the confines of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an ultra-Orthodox city on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, young students study together to analyze Jewish law, their vividly colored school notebooks contrasting with the seats of white shirts and head coverings.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the leader of the seminary, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, noted. "By studying Torah, we shield the soldiers on the front lines. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and Torah learning protect Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its military success as its advanced weaponry. That belief was accepted by the nation's leaders in the past, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he conceded that public attitudes are shifting.

Rising Popular Demand

This religious sector has significantly increased its proportion of the nation's citizens over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for around one in seven. An exemption that started as an exemption for a few hundred Torah scholars evolved into, by the beginning of the 2023 war, a cohort of approximately 60,000 men left out of the draft.

Opinion polls show approval of ultra-Orthodox conscription is growing. A survey in July revealed that an overwhelming percentage of non-Haredi Jews - including a significant majority in his own coalition allies - supported sanctions for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a solid consensus in supporting cutting state subsidies, travel documents, or the franchise.

"I feel there are individuals who are part of this country without contributing," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv said.

"I don't think, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your country," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "Being a native, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to study Torah all day."

Perspectives from Inside Bnei Brak

Support for broadening conscription is also expressed by religious Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who is a neighbor of the yeshiva and points to observant but non-Haredi Jews who do enlist in the army while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't enlist," she said. "This creates inequality. I too follow the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the scripture and the weapons together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

She manages a small memorial in Bnei Brak to fallen servicemen, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Rows of images {