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A gathering crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is threatening to undermine Israel's government and dividing the nation.

Public opinion on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of war, and this is now arguably the most explosive political issue facing the Prime Minister.

The Constitutional Struggle

Legislators are now debating a proposal to abolish the exemption given to ultra-Orthodox men dedicated to full-time religious study, created when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by Israel's High Court of Justice in the early 2000s. Stopgap solutions to continue it were finally concluded by the bench last year, pressuring the cabinet to begin drafting the community.

Some 24,000 draft notices were issued last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to defense officials presented to lawmakers.

Strains Spill Into Public View

Tensions are erupting onto the streets, with parliamentarians now deliberating a new conscription law to force Haredi males into national service in the same way as other Israeli Jews.

Two representatives were confronted this month by radical elements, who are furious with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

And last week, a elite police squad had to rescue enforcement personnel who were targeted by a large crowd of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they sought to apprehend a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have led to the development of a new communication network named "Dark Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and mobilize activists to stop detentions from taking place.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked an activist. "You can't fight against religious practice in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Apart

However the shifts sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the confines of the Torah academy in Bnei Brak, an Haredi enclave on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, young students learn in partnerships to debate Judaism's religious laws, their brightly coloured notepads contrasting with the seats of light-colored shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are engaged in learning," the dean of the academy, the spiritual guide, said. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the military personnel in the field. This is how we contribute."

Ultra-Orthodox believe 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 tenet was accepted by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, he said, but he conceded that the nation is evolving.

Rising Public Pressure

The ultra-Orthodox population has more than doubled its proportion of the nation's citizens over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for around one in seven. What began as an exemption for several hundred religious students evolved into, by the onset of the 2023 war, a cohort of tens of thousands of men left out of the conscription.

Opinion polls indicate backing for ending the exemption is increasing. A survey in July revealed that 85% of the broader Jewish public - including a large segment in his own coalition allies - backed penalties for those who ignored a draft order, with a clear majority in approving removing privileges, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who reside in this country without contributing," one military member in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to fulfill your duty to your state," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "Being a native, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Perspectives from Inside Bnei Brak

Backing for ending the exemption is also found among observant Jews not part of the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who is a neighbor of the academy and notes non-Haredi religious Jews who do enlist in the army while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a saying in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the Torah and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the arrival of peace."

The resident runs a small memorial in the neighborhood to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Lines of photographs {