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An impending political storm over enlisting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the administration and splitting the state.

Public opinion on the question has changed profoundly in Israel following two years of conflict, and this is now perhaps the most explosive political risk facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Conflict

Politicians are reviewing a draft bill to terminate the special status granted to Haredi students dedicated to full-time religious study, instituted when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

The deferment was struck down by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Interim measures to continue it were formally ended by the court last year, compelling the cabinet to commence conscription of the community.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 men from the community showed up, according to military testimony presented to lawmakers.

Tensions Boil Over Into Public View

Strains are boiling over onto the public squares, with parliamentarians now discussing a new conscription law to compel Haredi males into military service in the same way as other Israeli Jews.

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

In a recent incident, a specialized force had to extract Military Police officers who were surrounded by a sizeable mob of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they tried to arrest a suspected draft-evader.

These enforcement actions have prompted the establishment of a new messaging system named "Black Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and mobilize demonstrators to prevent arrests from happening.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," said an activist. "One cannot oppose Judaism in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

A World Apart

However the shifts blowing through Israel have not yet breached the confines of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, scholars study together to discuss Jewish law, their distinctive notepads contrasting with the rows of light-colored shirts and head coverings.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the head of the yeshiva, a senior rabbi, noted. "Through religious study, we protect the troops on the front lines. This is how we contribute."

Haredi Jews maintain that constant study and religious study defend Israel's military, and are as crucial to its security as its conventional forces. This conviction was endorsed by previous governments in the past, he said, but he acknowledged that Israel was changing.

Growing Societal Anger

This religious sector has grown substantially its percentage of the nation's citizens over the since the state's founding, and now constitutes 14%. What began as an exception for a small number of Torah scholars evolved into, by the onset of the 2023 war, a group of approximately 60,000 men exempt from the national service.

Opinion polls show support for ultra-Orthodox conscription is rising. Research in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing a large segment in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - backed penalties for those who refused a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in approving removing privileges, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are people who are part of this country without giving anything back," one serviceman in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your country," added Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to exempt yourself just to engage in religious study all day."

Voices from the Heart of Bnei Brak

Advocacy of extending the draft is also found among religious Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the academy and points to non-Haredi religious Jews who do enlist in the army while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that the Haredim don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I also believe in the Torah, but there's a saying in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the defense together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

She runs a modest remembrance site in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were killed in battle. Lines of faces {