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A gathering political storm over conscripting Haredi men into the military is jeopardizing the administration and fracturing the nation.

Popular sentiment on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel in the wake of two years of conflict, and this is now perhaps the most explosive political issue facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Judicial Struggle

Lawmakers are now debating a proposal to abolish the exemption given to yeshiva scholars engaged in full-time religious study, created when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

The deferment was declared unconstitutional by Israel's High Court of Justice in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to maintain it were officially terminated by the bench last year, pressuring the administration to begin drafting the community.

Approximately 24,000 draft notices were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees enlisted, according to defense officials shared with lawmakers.

Strains Erupt Into Violence

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now discussing a new conscription law to force ultra-Orthodox men into national service in the same way as other secular Israelis.

Two Haredi politicians were targeted this month by radical elements, who are furious with the Knesset's deliberations of the bill.

And last week, a elite police squad had to extract enforcement personnel who were surrounded by a big group of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they tried to arrest a man avoiding service.

These arrests have led to the development of a new alert system named "Black Alert" to spread word quickly through the religious sector and call out demonstrators to stop detentions from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," stated one protester. "It's impossible to battle Judaism in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Separate

However the changes affecting Israel have not yet breached the environment of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys study together to debate Judaism's religious laws, their distinctive school notebooks popping against the rows of white shirts and head coverings.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the head of the academy, the spiritual guide, explained. "By studying Torah, we protect the troops on the front lines. This is our army."

Haredi Jews maintain that continuous prayer and Torah learning defend Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its defense as its conventional forces. This tenet was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the past, he said, but he conceded that Israel was changing.

Growing Public Pressure

This religious sector has more than doubled its share of Israel's population over the last seventy years, and now constitutes 14%. What began as an exemption for a few hundred yeshiva attendees turned into, by the onset of the recent conflict, a body of some 60,000 men exempt from the draft.

Opinion polls indicate approval of ending the exemption is rising. Research in July found that 85% of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing a significant majority in his own coalition allies - favored consequences for those who refused a enlistment summons, with a solid consensus in supporting cutting state subsidies, passports, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are people who reside in this nation without serving," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv commented.

"I don't think, however religious you are, [it] should be an excuse not to go and serve your nation," added Gabby. "Being a native, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to opt out just to study Torah all day."

Perspectives from Within the Community

Support for ending the exemption is also coming from religious Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who is a neighbor of the academy and highlights observant but non-Haredi Jews who do serve in the military while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that ultra-Orthodox people don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the scripture and the guns together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

She runs a local tribute in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both religious and secular, who were killed in battle. Lines of images {