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A gathering crisis over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is posing a risk to Israel's government and dividing the country.

Popular sentiment on the issue has changed profoundly in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now arguably the most volatile political challenge facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Conflict

Legislators are reviewing a piece of legislation to end the special status given to Haredi students dedicated to Torah study, established when the modern Israel was declared in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by the nation's top court in the early 2000s. Stopgap solutions to continue it were finally concluded by the judiciary last year, compelling the administration to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees enlisted, according to defense officials given to lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Into Violence

Friction is spilling onto the streets, with elected officials now deliberating a new legislative proposal to compel Haredi males into army duty alongside other secular Israelis.

Two representatives were harassed this month by radical elements, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the proposed law.

In a recent incident, a specialized force had to assist army police who were targeted by a sizeable mob of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

Such incidents have led to the development of a new alert system named "Dark Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through ultra-Orthodox communities and call out activists to stop detentions from happening.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," remarked an activist. "You can't fight against the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. That is untenable."

A World Set Aside

Yet the transformations affecting Israel have not yet breached the environment of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an religious community on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, young students study together to discuss the Torah, their vividly colored school notebooks popping against the lines of formal attire and small black kippahs.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see a significant portion are studying Torah," the head of the seminary, the spiritual guide, explained. "Through religious study, we safeguard the military personnel on the front lines. This is our army."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and religious study protect Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its security as its advanced weaponry. This conviction was accepted by previous governments in the past, he said, but he conceded that Israel was changing.

Increasing Public Pressure

The ultra-Orthodox population has significantly increased its proportion of the country's people over the last seventy years, and now constitutes 14%. What began as an deferment for a small number of yeshiva attendees turned into, by the onset of the Gaza war, a cohort of approximately 60,000 men exempt from the conscription.

Opinion polls show backing for ending the exemption is growing. A poll in July found that an overwhelming percentage of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing a significant majority in his own coalition allies - favored penalties for those who ignored a draft order, with a firm majority in favor of removing privileges, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"I feel there are people who live in this nation without giving anything back," one military member in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, no matter how devout, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your country," added 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 Inside a Religious City

Advocacy of broadening conscription is also found among traditional Jews beyond the Haredi community, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the yeshiva and notes observant but non-Haredi Jews who do enlist in the army while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that this community don't serve in the army," 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 Torah and the defense together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

The resident maintains a local tribute in the neighborhood to soldiers from the area, both from all backgrounds, who were fallen in war. Rows of images {