🔗 Share this article A Crisis Approaches in Israel Regarding Ultra-Orthodox Military Draft Legislation The effort to enlist more Haredi men triggered a enormous protest in Jerusalem recently. A looming crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is threatening to undermine the administration and splitting the nation. Popular sentiment on the matter has changed profoundly in Israel in the wake of two years of war, and this is now possibly the most explosive political issue facing Benjamin Netanyahu. The Legal Struggle Legislators are currently considering a proposal to terminate the special status given to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in yeshiva learning, created when the modern Israel was founded in 1948. This arrangement was declared unconstitutional by the nation's top court two decades ago. Interim measures to continue it were finally concluded by the bench last year, pressuring the government to start enlisting the Haredi sector. Some 24,000 draft notices were sent out last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to military testimony shared with lawmakers. A remembrance site for those fallen in the 2023 assault and subsequent war has been created at a public square in Tel Aviv. Friction Spill Into Violence Tensions are erupting onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now debating a new conscription law to force yeshiva students into national service in the same way as other secular Israelis. A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were targeted this month by hardline activists, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the proposed law. In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to assist enforcement personnel who were attacked by a big group of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they tried to arrest a alleged conscription dodger. These arrests have led to the development of a new messaging system dubbed "Dark Alert" to send out instant alerts through the religious sector and summon protesters to prevent arrests from happening. "This is a Jewish state," said Shmuel Orbach. "It's impossible to battle the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. That is untenable." An Environment Apart Within a study hall at a Torah academy, scholars discuss Judaism's religious laws. Yet the transformations affecting Israel have not yet breached the confines of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an ultra-Orthodox city on the fringes of Tel Aviv. Inside the classroom, scholars sit in pairs to analyze Judaism's religious laws, their distinctive school notebooks popping against the seats of white shirts and head coverings. "Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are pursuing religious study," the leader of the academy, a senior rabbi, explained. "By studying Torah, we shield the soldiers wherever they are. This constitutes our service." The community holds that constant study and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's military, and are as vital to its defense as its tanks and air force. That belief was acknowledged by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he admitted that public attitudes are shifting. Increasing Popular Demand The ultra-Orthodox population has more than doubled its proportion of the country's people over the since the state's founding, and now represents 14%. What began as an exemption for several hundred Torah scholars became, by the onset of the recent conflict, a body of approximately 60,000 men left out of the national service. Polling data show approval of ultra-Orthodox conscription is growing. A survey in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing a significant majority in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - supported consequences for those who declined a draft order, with a clear majority in approving withdrawing benefits, passports, or the right to vote. "It makes me feel there are individuals who are part of this nation without serving," one military member in Tel Aviv commented. "In my view, no matter how devout, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your nation," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to exempt yourself just to engage in religious study all day." Voices from Inside a Religious City A local woman maintains a memorial honoring fallen soldiers from the area who have been fallen in past battles. Support for broadening conscription is also found among observant Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who lives near the academy and points to non-Haredi religious 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. "It's unfair. I too follow the Torah, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the scripture and the weapons together. That's the way forward, until the arrival of peace." She maintains a local tribute in her city to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were lost in conflict. Rows of images {