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A gathering crisis over enlisting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the administration and fracturing the nation.

Popular sentiment on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now arguably the most volatile political risk facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Lawmakers are currently considering a proposal to abolish the deferment given to Haredi students engaged in full-time religious study, instituted when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by the Supreme Court in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to continue it were formally ended by the court last year, pressuring the cabinet to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Approximately 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees enlisted, according to army data presented to lawmakers.

Tensions Erupt Into Public View

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with elected officials now debating a new conscription law to force yeshiva students into national service alongside other Israeli Jews.

Two Haredi politicians were confronted this month by hardline activists, who are enraged with the Knesset's deliberations of the draft legislation.

And last week, a special Border Police unit had to assist Military Police officers who were surrounded by a sizeable mob of community members as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have prompted the establishment of a new communication network named "Dark Alert" to send out instant alerts through Haredi neighborhoods and mobilize activists to prevent arrests from occurring.

"This is a Jewish state," stated an activist. "It's impossible to battle the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. It doesn't work."

A Realm Set Aside

Yet the shifts sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the religious seminary in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, teenage boys sit in pairs to analyze the Torah, their brightly coloured notepads standing out against the rows of formal attire and traditional skullcaps.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the dean of the academy, a senior rabbi, explained. "Through religious study, we safeguard the military personnel in the field. This is our army."

The community holds that continuous prayer and religious study defend Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its security as its tanks and air force. That belief was accepted by previous governments in the previous eras, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he conceded that public attitudes are shifting.

Increasing Popular Demand

The Haredi community has significantly increased its proportion of Israel's population over the last seventy years, and now accounts for 14%. A policy that originated as an exception for a small number of religious students became, by the onset of the Gaza war, a group of some 60,000 men left out of the draft.

Surveys show approval of ending the exemption is growing. Research in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - including almost three-quarters in the Prime Minister's political base - backed sanctions for those who refused a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in favor of withdrawing benefits, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"It makes me feel there are people who live in this country without serving," one military member in Tel Aviv commented.

"I don't think, regardless of piety, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your nation," said a young woman. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to avoid service just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Views from the Heart of a Religious City

Backing for ending the exemption is also found among traditional Jews beyond the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the seminary and notes religious Zionists who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"It makes me angry that the Haredim don't serve in the army," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it means the scripture and the weapons together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

The resident maintains a small memorial in the neighborhood to fallen servicemen, both observant and non-observant, who were killed in battle. Lines of images {