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An impending political storm over drafting Haredi men into the Israeli army is jeopardizing the administration and splitting the nation.

The public mood on the issue has shifted dramatically in Israel in the wake of two years of war, and this is now perhaps the most explosive political issue facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Judicial Struggle

Politicians are currently considering a proposal to terminate the deferment awarded to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in yeshiva learning, instituted when the modern Israel was declared in 1948.

This arrangement was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the early 2000s. Stopgap solutions to extend it were officially terminated by the bench last year, forcing the government to commence conscription of the community.

Approximately 24,000 call-up papers were issued last year, but just approximately 1,200 men from the community showed up, according to defense officials presented to lawmakers.

Friction Spill Into Violence

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with parliamentarians now deliberating a new draft bill to force ultra-Orthodox men into army duty together with other secular Israelis.

Two Haredi politicians were targeted this month by hardline activists, who are enraged with the Knesset's deliberations of the draft legislation.

And last week, a specialized force had to rescue Military Police officers who were targeted by a big group of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new alert system called "Dark Alert" to send out instant alerts through Haredi neighborhoods and summon protesters to stop detentions from taking place.

"We're a Jewish country," stated Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

A World Apart

However the transformations sweeping across Israel have not yet breached the environment of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys learn in partnerships to analyze Jewish law, their distinctive notepads popping against the rows of light-colored shirts and head coverings.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see many of the students are pursuing religious study," the dean of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, explained. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the soldiers on the front lines. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that constant study and religious study guard Israel's military, and are as vital to its security as its conventional forces. That belief was acknowledged by the nation's leaders in the previous eras, the rabbi said, but he admitted that Israel was changing.

Rising Popular Demand

This religious sector has grown substantially its percentage of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now accounts for 14%. A policy that originated as an deferment for a few hundred Torah scholars turned into, by the onset of the 2023 war, a cohort of some 60,000 men not subject to the draft.

Polling data indicate approval of drafting the Haredim is increasing. A poll in July found that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - encompassing a large segment in the Prime Minister's political base - supported sanctions for those who ignored a draft order, with a firm majority in favor of cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"It makes me feel there are individuals who reside in this country without contributing," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv commented.

"I don't think, however religious you are, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your state," added a Tel Aviv resident. "Being a native, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to avoid service just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from the Heart of the Community

Support for ending the exemption is also expressed by observant Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who lives near the academy and notes non-Haredi religious Jews who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"It makes me angry that the Haredim don't perform military service," she said. "It is unjust. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the guns together. That is the path, until the messianic era."

The resident maintains a small memorial in her city to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were lost in conflict. Lines of images {