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A looming political storm over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is posing a risk to Israel's government and splitting the nation.

Public opinion on the issue has changed profoundly in Israel following two years of hostilities, and this is now perhaps the most explosive political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Legislators are reviewing a proposal to terminate the deferment granted to yeshiva scholars dedicated to Torah study, instituted when the the nation was established in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice two decades ago. Stopgap solutions to maintain it were officially terminated by the bench last year, compelling the administration to begin drafting the community.

Roughly 24,000 draft notices were sent out last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts reported for duty, according to defense officials presented to lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Into Public View

Tensions are erupting onto the city centers, with elected officials now debating a new draft bill to force yeshiva students into national service together with other Israeli Jews.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were harassed this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are incensed with the Knesset's deliberations of the bill.

And last week, a elite police squad had to assist enforcement personnel who were targeted by a large crowd of community members as they attempted to detain a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have prompted the establishment of a new messaging system named "Emergency Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through ultra-Orthodox communities and call out protesters to block enforcement from happening.

"We're a Jewish country," said Shmuel Orbach. "It's impossible to battle Judaism in a Jewish state. It doesn't work."

A World Separate

Yet the shifts sweeping across Israel have not reached the confines of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an Haredi enclave on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys learn in partnerships to debate the Torah, their vividly colored school notebooks standing out against the seats of light-colored shirts and head coverings.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the head of the seminary, a senior rabbi, said. "Through religious study, we protect the military personnel wherever they are. This is our army."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and Torah learning protect Israel's military, and are as crucial to its security as its tanks and air force. This tenet was accepted by the nation's leaders in the previous eras, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he acknowledged that the nation is evolving.

Increasing Societal Anger

The Haredi community has significantly increased its percentage of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now represents 14%. An exemption that started as an exception for a few hundred religious students turned into, by the onset of the Gaza war, a group of approximately 60,000 men left out of the draft.

Opinion polls show backing for ultra-Orthodox conscription is growing. Research in July showed that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - even almost three-quarters in the Prime Minister's political base - favored sanctions for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a solid consensus in favor of withdrawing benefits, travel documents, or the franchise.

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

"In my view, however religious you are, [it] should be an excuse not to fulfill your duty to your nation," added a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to exempt yourself just to study Torah all day."

Views from Inside a Religious City

Support for extending the draft is also found among religious Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the yeshiva and notes observant but non-Haredi Jews who do perform national service while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that the Haredim don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the scripture and the weapons together. That is the path, until the messianic era."

She maintains a local tribute in Bnei Brak to soldiers from the area, both religious and secular, who were fallen in war. Rows of faces {