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An impending political storm over conscripting Haredi men into the military is posing a risk to the administration and splitting the state.

Popular sentiment on the question has changed profoundly in Israel after two years of conflict, and this is now possibly the most explosive political challenge facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Battle

Legislators are currently considering a piece of legislation to end the special status given to yeshiva scholars dedicated to yeshiva learning, instituted when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

The deferment was ruled illegal by the nation's top court two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to extend it were formally ended by the court last year, compelling the administration to start enlisting the community.

Some 24,000 draft notices were issued last year, but just approximately 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees enlisted, according to army data given to lawmakers.

Tensions Erupt Onto the Streets

Tensions are erupting onto the public squares, with parliamentarians now debating a new draft bill to compel ultra-Orthodox men into national service alongside other secular Israelis.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were harassed this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are incensed with the Knesset's deliberations of the bill.

And last week, a elite police squad had to assist army police who were attacked by a big group of community members as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

Such incidents have prompted the establishment of a new alert system called "Emergency Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and call out protesters to block enforcement from taking place.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," remarked an activist. "One cannot oppose Judaism in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It doesn't work."

An Environment Apart

However the transformations sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in a Haredi stronghold, an ultra-Orthodox city on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, young students study together to debate Jewish law, their vividly colored school notebooks popping against the seats of white shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see many of the students are engaged in learning," the head of the yeshiva, a senior rabbi, explained. "Through religious study, we shield the soldiers wherever they are. This constitutes our service."

Haredi Jews maintain that constant study and Torah learning protect Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its defense as its conventional forces. That belief was acknowledged by previous governments in the earlier decades, he said, but he conceded that the nation is evolving.

Increasing Public Pressure

The Haredi community has significantly increased its proportion of the country's people over the last seventy years, and now accounts for a sizable minority. What began as an deferment for several hundred yeshiva attendees turned into, by the onset of the 2023 war, a body of approximately 60,000 men exempt from the national service.

Opinion polls show support for ultra-Orthodox conscription is rising. A poll in July showed that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - including a significant majority in the Prime Minister's political base - favored consequences for those who declined a draft order, with a clear majority in supporting cutting state subsidies, passports, or the right to vote.

"I feel there are citizens who reside in this country without giving anything back," one military member in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to fulfill your duty to your state," stated Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to opt out just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Views from Within the Community

Backing for broadening conscription is also found among observant Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who is a neighbor of the seminary and notes observant but non-Haredi Jews who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that this community don't serve in the army," she said. "It is unjust. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a saying in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the Torah and the weapons together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

The resident runs a local tribute in the neighborhood to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were lost in conflict. Rows of faces {