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A gathering crisis over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is posing a risk to the governing coalition and fracturing the nation.

The public mood on the matter has changed profoundly in Israel following two years of hostilities, and this is now arguably the most volatile political challenge facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Conflict

Lawmakers are currently considering a piece of legislation to terminate the special status granted to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in Torah study, instituted when the State of Israel was founded in 1948.

The deferment was struck down by the nation's top court in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to continue it were finally concluded by the bench last year, compelling the cabinet to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community enlisted, according to military testimony given to lawmakers.

Tensions Spill Onto the Streets

Tensions are erupting onto the streets, with lawmakers now debating a new draft bill to compel yeshiva students into army duty in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were targeted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are enraged with the Knesset's deliberations of the proposed law.

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 tried to arrest a man avoiding service.

These arrests have sparked the creation of a new communication network dubbed "Dark Alert" to send out instant alerts through ultra-Orthodox communities and summon protesters to prevent arrests from taking place.

"We're a Jewish country," remarked Shmuel Orbach. "You can't fight against Judaism in a Jewish state. That is untenable."

An Environment Apart

But the transformations affecting Israel have not reached the confines of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, young students sit in pairs to debate Jewish law, their distinctive notepads contrasting with the seats of light-colored shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see a significant portion are studying Torah," the leader of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, noted. "By studying Torah, we safeguard the soldiers in the field. This is our army."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and religious study protect Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its defense as its advanced weaponry. That belief was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the earlier decades, he said, but he acknowledged that the nation is evolving.

Growing Public Pressure

This religious sector has significantly increased its proportion of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now accounts for around one in seven. An exemption that started as an exception for a few hundred Torah scholars became, by the onset of the Gaza war, a body of approximately 60,000 men exempt from the draft.

Polling data indicate backing for drafting the Haredim is rising. A survey in July showed that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - encompassing a large segment in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - supported sanctions for those who ignored a draft order, with a firm majority in approving removing privileges, passports, or the franchise.

"I feel there are people who live in this nation without giving anything back," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to go and serve your state," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to engage in religious study all day."

Views from Within the Community

Advocacy of extending the draft is also found among traditional Jews not part of the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who resides close to the academy and points to non-Haredi religious Jews who do serve in the military while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "This creates inequality. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the Torah and the guns together. This is the correct approach, until the days of peace."

She manages a local tribute in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were killed in battle. Lines of photographs {