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An impending political storm over conscripting Haredi men into the Israeli army is threatening to undermine the governing coalition and splitting the country.

Public opinion on the question has shifted dramatically in Israel in the wake of two years of war, and this is now possibly the most divisive political risk facing the Prime Minister.

The Judicial Struggle

Politicians are currently considering a draft bill to abolish the deferment awarded to Haredi students dedicated to yeshiva learning, established when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Interim measures to maintain it were finally concluded by the court last year, forcing the cabinet to begin drafting the community.

Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts enlisted, according to defense officials presented to lawmakers.

Strains Boil Over Into Violence

Tensions are erupting onto the city centers, with lawmakers now deliberating a new legislative proposal to compel Haredi males into national service together with other Israeli Jews.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were targeted this month by radical elements, who are incensed with the Knesset's deliberations of the bill.

Recently, a elite police squad had to extract Military Police officers who were targeted by a big group of Haredi men as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have led to the development of a new communication network called "Black Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and summon activists to block enforcement from happening.

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

A World Set Aside

Yet the changes sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the confines of the Torah academy in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars learn in partnerships to analyze the Torah, their brightly coloured school notebooks contrasting with the rows of white shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the leader of the seminary, a senior rabbi, explained. "By studying Torah, we protect the military personnel wherever they are. This constitutes our service."

Haredi Jews maintain that constant study and religious study protect Israel's military, and are as crucial to its military success as its tanks and air force. This conviction was accepted by the nation's leaders in the past, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Growing Societal Anger

The Haredi community has grown substantially its percentage of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for a sizable minority. What began as an exception for a small number of Torah scholars evolved into, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a body of tens of thousands of men left out of the draft.

Opinion polls show support for drafting the Haredim is increasing. A poll in July showed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - even a significant majority in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - supported sanctions for those who refused a call-up notice, with a clear majority in supporting cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the franchise.

"It seems to me there are citizens who are part of this nation without contributing," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, regardless of piety, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your state," said Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to study Torah all day."

Voices from Inside the Community

Advocacy of extending the draft is also found among religious Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the seminary and points to non-Haredi religious Jews who do enlist in the army while also maintaining their faith.

"It makes me angry that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "This creates inequality. I too follow the Torah, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the Torah and the weapons together. That's the way forward, until the days of peace."

The resident runs a small memorial in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were lost in conflict. Lines of photographs {