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An impending crisis over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is posing a risk to Israel's government and fracturing the country.

Public opinion on the question has shifted dramatically in Israel following two years of war, and this is now arguably the most explosive political risk facing the Prime Minister.

The Judicial Battle

Politicians are currently considering a piece of legislation to end the deferment given to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in full-time religious study, established when the State of Israel was declared in 1948.

That exemption was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice almost 20 years ago. Temporary arrangements to continue it were formally ended by the judiciary last year, compelling the government to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 draft notices were issued last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to defense officials given to lawmakers.

Strains Erupt Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with elected officials now discussing a new draft bill to require ultra-Orthodox men into army duty together with other Jewish citizens.

Two representatives were confronted this month by hardline activists, who are enraged with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

Recently, a special Border Police unit had to extract army police who were attacked by a sizeable mob of Haredi men as they tried to arrest a man avoiding service.

These arrests have led to the development of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and mobilize protesters to stop detentions from occurring.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated one protester. "It's impossible to battle religious practice in a nation founded on Jewish identity. That is untenable."

An Environment Set Aside

Yet the changes sweeping across Israel have not yet breached the walls of the religious seminary in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, young students sit in pairs to debate Judaism's religious laws, their vividly colored notepads standing out against the seats of formal attire and traditional skullcaps.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the leader of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, said. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the military personnel wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and Torah learning protect Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its defense as its tanks and air force. That belief was accepted by the nation's leaders in the past, he said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Growing Societal Anger

The Haredi community has significantly increased its percentage of the nation's citizens over the since the state's founding, and now constitutes 14%. An exemption that started as an deferment for a few hundred Torah scholars turned into, by the beginning of the Gaza war, a body of some 60,000 men exempt from the conscription.

Polling data indicate approval of ending the exemption is growing. Research in July revealed that an overwhelming percentage of the broader Jewish public - including almost three-quarters in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - supported penalties for those who ignored a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in favor of removing privileges, travel documents, or the franchise.

"I feel there are individuals who live in this country without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to fulfill your duty to your state," said a young woman. "As a citizen by birth, I find it rather absurd that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from Within a Religious City

Advocacy of extending the draft is also expressed by traditional Jews beyond the Haredi community, like Dorit Barak, who lives near the academy and highlights observant but non-Haredi Jews who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"I'm very angry that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "This creates inequality. I also believe in the Torah, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the Torah and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the messianic era."

The resident runs a small memorial in the neighborhood to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Lines of images {