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

The public mood on the issue has shifted dramatically in Israel following two years of hostilities, and this is now arguably the most explosive political issue facing the Prime Minister.

The Legal Conflict

Legislators are reviewing a proposal to abolish the exemption awarded to Haredi students engaged in full-time religious study, instituted when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

That exemption was struck down by the nation's top court two decades ago. Interim measures to maintain it were finally concluded by the bench last year, forcing the government to begin drafting the community.

Some 24,000 call-up papers were sent out last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to military testimony shared with lawmakers.

Strains Spill Into Violence

Tensions are erupting onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now deliberating a new conscription law to compel yeshiva students into national service alongside other secular Israelis.

Two representatives were harassed this month by hardline activists, who are incensed with the Knesset's deliberations of the draft legislation.

In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to extract Military Police officers who were targeted by a sizeable mob of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a alleged conscription dodger.

These enforcement actions have led to the development of a new alert system named "Black Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and call out activists to prevent arrests from occurring.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," said an activist. "You can't fight against religious practice in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Apart

Yet the shifts blowing through Israel have not yet breached the confines of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in a Haredi stronghold, an Haredi enclave on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, scholars study together to analyze Jewish law, their distinctive writing books popping against the seats of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are engaged in learning," the head of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, said. "Via dedicated learning, we shield the military personnel wherever they are. This is our army."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and Torah learning defend Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its military success as its advanced weaponry. That belief was accepted by previous governments in the previous eras, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Increasing Popular Demand

This religious sector has significantly increased its share of Israel's population over the last seventy years, and now represents around one in seven. A policy that originated as an exemption for several hundred yeshiva attendees turned into, by the start of the 2023 war, a body of approximately 60,000 men left out of the draft.

Opinion polls show backing for ending the exemption is growing. Research in July found that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - even a significant majority in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - favored penalties for those who refused a draft order, with a clear majority in approving cutting state subsidies, travel documents, or the right to vote.

"I feel there are people who are part of this country without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your nation," stated Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to opt out just to engage in religious study all day."

Views from Within a Religious City

Backing for extending the draft is also found among traditional Jews not part of the Haredi community, like one local resident, who resides close to the yeshiva and points to observant but non-Haredi Jews who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that this community don't enlist," she said. "It is unjust. I too follow the Torah, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the Torah and the defense together. That is the path, until the messianic era."

She runs a local tribute in the neighborhood to local soldiers, both from all backgrounds, who were fallen in war. Lines of photographs {