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An impending crisis over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is threatening to undermine the governing coalition and fracturing the state.

Popular sentiment on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of war, and this is now possibly the most explosive political risk facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Judicial Struggle

Lawmakers are currently considering a proposal to terminate the exemption awarded to Haredi students dedicated to full-time religious study, established when the State of Israel was declared in 1948.

That exemption was struck down by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Interim measures to extend it were officially terminated by the judiciary last year, forcing the administration to begin drafting the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were sent out last year, but merely about 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees enlisted, according to defense officials shared with lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Into Violence

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with elected officials now discussing a new legislative proposal to compel yeshiva students into army duty in the same way as other secular Israelis.

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

In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to assist Military Police officers who were surrounded by a sizeable mob of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a alleged conscription dodger.

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

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose Judaism in a Jewish state. That is untenable."

A World Set Aside

But the changes sweeping across Israel have not yet breached the confines of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an Haredi enclave on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, young students learn in partnerships to discuss Judaism's religious laws, their distinctive notepads popping against the lines of formal attire and head coverings.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see a significant portion are engaged in learning," the head of the academy, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, explained. "By studying Torah, we shield the military personnel on the front lines. This is how we contribute."

Haredi Jews maintain that unceasing devotion and Torah learning defend Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its security as its advanced weaponry. This conviction was endorsed by previous governments in the past, he said, but he admitted that public attitudes are shifting.

Growing Popular Demand

This religious sector has more than doubled its percentage of the country's people over the since the state's founding, and now represents 14%. A policy that originated as an exemption for a small number of religious students became, by the beginning of the 2023 war, a body of tens of thousands of men exempt from the draft.

Polling data indicate approval of ultra-Orthodox conscription is increasing. A poll in July found that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - including a large segment in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - backed consequences for those who declined a draft order, with a firm majority in supporting withdrawing benefits, passports, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are citizens who reside in this country without contributing," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your state," said a young woman. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from Inside a Religious City

Advocacy of ending the exemption is also coming from observant Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who is a neighbor of the academy and highlights non-Haredi religious Jews who do perform national service while also studying Torah.

"I'm very angry that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "It is unjust. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it means the scripture and the defense together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

The resident manages a small memorial in her city to fallen servicemen, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Rows of photographs {