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A looming political storm over conscripting Haredi men into the Israeli army is threatening to undermine Israel's government and dividing the state.

The public mood on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel in the wake of two years of conflict, and this is now perhaps the most volatile political risk facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Conflict

Politicians are currently considering a proposal to terminate the special status awarded to Haredi students engaged in full-time religious study, created when the the nation was established in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by the nation's top court almost 20 years ago. Interim measures to extend it were finally concluded by the court last year, compelling the government to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 men from the community showed up, according to defense officials shared with lawmakers.

Strains Erupt Into Public View

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with elected officials now deliberating a new conscription law to force yeshiva students into military service in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were confronted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the draft legislation.

And last week, a elite police squad had to extract enforcement personnel who were attacked by a sizeable mob of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they sought to apprehend a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and mobilize activists to block enforcement from taking place.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked an activist. "It's impossible to battle the Jewish faith in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It doesn't work."

A Realm Set Aside

Yet the transformations blowing through Israel have not yet breached the environment of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an Haredi enclave on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, teenage boys sit in pairs to analyze the Torah, their brightly coloured notepads popping against the lines of formal attire and head coverings.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see a significant portion are engaged in learning," the head of the yeshiva, a senior rabbi, noted. "By studying Torah, we protect the military personnel in the field. This is our army."

The community holds that continuous prayer and religious study guard Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its military success as its advanced weaponry. This tenet was accepted by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Increasing Public Pressure

This religious sector has significantly increased its percentage of the nation's citizens over the last seventy years, and now represents 14%. A policy that originated as an exemption for a few hundred yeshiva attendees became, by the onset of the 2023 war, a body of some 60,000 men left out of the national service.

Polling data show approval of drafting the Haredim is growing. Research in July revealed that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing a large segment in the Prime Minister's political base - favored sanctions for those who ignored a call-up notice, with a firm majority in favor of withdrawing benefits, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who live in this nation without giving anything back," one military member in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your country," added Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Perspectives from Within a Religious City

Support for broadening conscription is also coming from traditional Jews outside the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the yeshiva and points to non-Haredi religious Jews who do enlist in the army while also studying Torah.

"I'm very angry that ultra-Orthodox people don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the weapons together. That's the way forward, until the days of peace."

The resident maintains a small memorial in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both religious and secular, who were lost in conflict. Long columns of photographs {