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A looming political storm over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is posing a risk to the administration and splitting the state.

Popular sentiment on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of conflict, and this is now arguably the most volatile political challenge facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Battle

Legislators are reviewing a draft bill to terminate the special status awarded to yeshiva scholars enrolled in full-time religious study, established when the the nation was established in 1948.

This arrangement was ruled illegal by the nation's top court two decades ago. Interim measures to extend it were finally concluded by the court last year, compelling the government to commence conscription of the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 draft notices were issued last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts showed up, according to defense officials given to lawmakers.

Tensions Erupt Into Public View

Tensions are erupting onto the city centers, with lawmakers now deliberating a new draft bill to force Haredi males into army duty alongside other Israeli Jews.

Two representatives were targeted this month by radical elements, who are furious with the Knesset's deliberations of the bill.

In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to rescue Military Police officers who were targeted by a large crowd of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they tried to arrest a man avoiding service.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new messaging system named "Dark Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through Haredi neighborhoods and mobilize protesters to prevent arrests from taking place.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," said one protester. "You can't fight against Judaism in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Apart

Yet the transformations sweeping across Israel have not reached the confines of the Torah academy in a Haredi stronghold, an religious community on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys study together to discuss Jewish law, their vividly colored school notebooks popping against the seats of white shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are pursuing religious study," the leader of the academy, the spiritual guide, explained. "Through religious study, we safeguard the soldiers on the front lines. This is our army."

Haredi Jews maintain that constant study and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its security as its tanks and air force. This conviction was endorsed by previous governments in the past, the rabbi said, but he conceded that the nation is evolving.

Rising Popular Demand

This religious sector has significantly increased its proportion of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for 14%. An exemption that started as an exemption for a few hundred yeshiva attendees turned into, by the onset of the 2023 war, a cohort of approximately 60,000 men not subject to the conscription.

Surveys show support for drafting the Haredim is rising. Research in July showed that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - encompassing a large segment in his own coalition allies - supported sanctions for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a firm majority in supporting removing privileges, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who are part of this country without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to go and serve your nation," stated a young woman. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to engage in religious study all day."

Voices from Within the Community

Backing for extending the draft is also coming from religious Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who is a neighbor of the academy and points to observant but non-Haredi Jews who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't perform military service," she said. "It is unjust. I also believe in the Torah, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it signifies the Torah and the defense together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

She runs a modest remembrance site in her city to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were killed in battle. Long columns of images {