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A gathering crisis over enlisting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing Israel's government and splitting the state.

Public opinion on the matter has shifted dramatically 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 now debating a piece of legislation to end the exemption granted to Haredi students enrolled in Torah study, instituted when the State of Israel was founded in 1948.

That exemption was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice two decades ago. Stopgap solutions to extend it were formally ended by the court last year, pressuring the cabinet to commence conscription of the community.

Approximately 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts reported for duty, according to defense officials presented to lawmakers.

Strains Boil Over Into Public View

Tensions are erupting onto the city centers, with elected officials now discussing a new conscription law to force ultra-Orthodox men into military service alongside other Israeli Jews.

Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by radical elements, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the bill.

Recently, a specialized force had to assist enforcement personnel who were surrounded by a sizeable mob of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new messaging system named "Black Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and mobilize activists to prevent arrests from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," stated Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose religious practice in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

A World Apart

However the shifts blowing through Israel have failed to penetrate the walls of the religious seminary in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, young students sit in pairs to analyze Jewish law, their brightly coloured notepads contrasting with the lines of formal attire and small black kippahs.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the leader of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, explained. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the military personnel in the field. This is our army."

The community holds that continuous prayer and religious study defend Israel's military, and are as vital to its military success as its advanced weaponry. This tenet was endorsed by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, he said, but he acknowledged that Israel was changing.

Rising Public Pressure

This religious sector has grown substantially its percentage of the country's people over the past seven decades, and now constitutes 14%. An exemption that started as an exemption for a small number of religious students turned into, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a group of tens of thousands of men exempt from the national service.

Surveys suggest approval of drafting the Haredim is rising. A survey in July found that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing a significant majority in his own coalition allies - backed sanctions for those who refused a draft order, with a clear majority in supporting withdrawing benefits, travel documents, or the right to vote.

"I feel there are people who are part of this nation without serving," one military member in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, no matter how devout, [it] should be an reason not to go and serve your nation," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it rather absurd that you want to opt out just to study Torah all day."

Perspectives from Within Bnei Brak

Advocacy of extending the draft is also coming from observant Jews outside the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the yeshiva and notes observant but non-Haredi Jews who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't serve in the army," she said. "It's unfair. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a saying in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the Torah and the weapons together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

She maintains a local tribute in the neighborhood to local soldiers, both from all backgrounds, who were lost in conflict. Long columns of faces {