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A looming political storm over enlisting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is threatening to undermine the governing coalition and dividing the country.

The public mood on the issue has shifted dramatically in Israel in the wake of two years of conflict, and this is now arguably the most volatile political issue facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Lawmakers are currently considering a draft bill to terminate the special status granted to Haredi students engaged in Torah study, created when the State of Israel was declared in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by the nation's top court in the early 2000s. Stopgap solutions to maintain it were officially terminated by the court last year, pressuring the cabinet to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were sent out last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees enlisted, according to army data given to lawmakers.

Strains Boil Over Into Public View

Tensions are erupting onto the streets, with parliamentarians now debating a new legislative proposal to compel Haredi males into national service in the same way as other secular Israelis.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were targeted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are incensed with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

In a recent incident, a special Border Police unit had to assist army police who were surrounded by a big group of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

Such incidents have led to the development of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through Haredi neighborhoods and summon activists to block enforcement from occurring.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated Shmuel Orbach. "It's impossible to battle Judaism in a nation founded on Jewish identity. That is untenable."

A World Set Aside

However the shifts sweeping across Israel have not yet breached the walls of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in a Haredi stronghold, an Haredi enclave on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys learn in partnerships to discuss the Torah, their vividly colored writing books contrasting with the seats of formal attire and head coverings.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are engaged in learning," the head of the seminary, a senior rabbi, said. "Through religious study, we safeguard the soldiers wherever they are. This is our army."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its defense as its advanced weaponry. This tenet was acknowledged by Israel's politicians in the previous eras, the rabbi said, but he acknowledged that Israel was changing.

Growing Popular Demand

This religious sector has significantly increased its percentage of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now constitutes around one in seven. An exemption that started as an exemption for a few hundred Torah scholars became, by the start of the Gaza war, a group of approximately 60,000 men exempt from the national service.

Opinion polls show backing for ending the exemption is growing. A poll in July revealed that an overwhelming percentage of non-Haredi Jews - including a large segment in his own coalition allies - supported penalties for those who refused a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in approving removing privileges, travel documents, or the right to vote.

"It seems to me there are individuals who reside in this nation without giving anything back," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv said.

"In my view, no matter how devout, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your nation," stated a young woman. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to avoid service just to study Torah all day."

Views from Within Bnei Brak

Support for broadening conscription is also found among traditional Jews outside the Haredi community, like one local resident, who is a neighbor of the academy and highlights religious Zionists who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"I'm very angry that this community don't enlist," she said. "It is unjust. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the scripture and the guns together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

The resident runs a local tribute in her city to fallen servicemen, both from all backgrounds, who were killed in battle. Long columns of photographs {