A Looming Crisis Approaches in Israel Over Ultra-Orthodox Military Draft Proposal

An impending political storm over drafting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is posing a risk to the governing coalition and fracturing the nation.

Public opinion on the question has shifted dramatically in Israel following two years of hostilities, and this is now possibly the most divisive political issue facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Battle

Legislators are currently considering a piece of legislation to terminate the exemption granted to yeshiva scholars enrolled in full-time religious study, instituted when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

This arrangement was declared unconstitutional by the nation's top court almost 20 years ago. Stopgap solutions to continue it were formally ended by the judiciary last year, pressuring the cabinet to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community reported for duty, according to military testimony presented to lawmakers.

Tensions Erupt Into Public View

Tensions are erupting onto the streets, with lawmakers now debating a new legislative proposal to force Haredi males into national service together with other secular Israelis.

Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by radical elements, who are furious with parliament's discussion of the bill.

Recently, a specialized force had to rescue army police who were targeted by a large crowd of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they sought to apprehend a man avoiding service.

These arrests have sparked the creation of a new alert system called "Emergency Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and call out demonstrators to block enforcement from happening.

"We're a Jewish country," remarked an activist. "You can't fight against religious practice in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Set Aside

However the transformations affecting Israel have not yet breached the walls of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, teenage boys sit in pairs to debate Judaism's religious laws, their distinctive school notebooks standing out against the seats of formal attire and head coverings.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the head of the seminary, the spiritual guide, noted. "Through religious study, we safeguard the military personnel on the front lines. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit guard Israel's armed forces, and are as essential to its military success as its conventional forces. This tenet was acknowledged by previous governments in the past, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he conceded that the nation is evolving.

Increasing Popular Demand

The Haredi community has grown substantially its proportion of the country's people over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for around one in seven. An exemption that started as an exception for a few hundred yeshiva attendees became, by the onset of the recent conflict, a body of tens of thousands of men exempt from the conscription.

Opinion polls indicate approval of ending the exemption is growing. A poll in July revealed that 85% of the broader Jewish public - encompassing almost three-quarters in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - backed penalties for those who ignored a call-up notice, with a firm majority in supporting withdrawing benefits, travel documents, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are individuals who live in this nation without giving anything back," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv explained.

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your state," added a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Perspectives from Within the Community

Advocacy of broadening conscription is also found among religious Jews beyond the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the seminary and notes non-Haredi religious Jews who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"I am frustrated that this community don't perform military service," she said. "This creates inequality. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the guns together. That is the path, until the messianic era."

Ms Barak manages a small memorial in the neighborhood to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Rows of images {