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

Popular sentiment on the issue has changed profoundly in Israel following two years of hostilities, and this is now arguably the most volatile political challenge facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Politicians are reviewing a proposal to end the exemption granted to Haredi students dedicated to yeshiva learning, established when the modern Israel was established in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by Israel's High Court of Justice two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to maintain it were formally ended by the bench last year, pressuring the administration to start enlisting the community.

Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were sent out last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts reported for duty, according to defense officials shared with lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Onto the Streets

Friction is spilling onto the public squares, with elected officials now discussing a new legislative proposal to compel yeshiva students into army duty alongside other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were targeted 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 big group of Haredi men as they tried to arrest a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new alert system named "Black Alert" to send out instant alerts through Haredi neighborhoods and call out protesters to stop detentions from taking place.

"We're a Jewish country," remarked one protester. "It's impossible to battle religious practice in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Apart

But the shifts affecting Israel have not reached the environment of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an ultra-Orthodox city on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, young students study together to analyze Judaism's religious laws, their vividly colored notepads contrasting with the seats of white shirts and head coverings.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are engaged in learning," the leader of the yeshiva, a senior rabbi, explained. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the soldiers wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that constant study and Torah learning guard Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its defense as its tanks and air force. That belief was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the past, the rabbi said, but he conceded that the nation is evolving.

Rising Popular Demand

The Haredi community has significantly increased its percentage of the country's people over the since the state's founding, and now represents around one in seven. A policy that originated as an exemption for a few hundred religious students became, by the onset of the recent conflict, a body of some 60,000 men exempt from the conscription.

Opinion polls show backing for drafting the Haredim is increasing. A survey in July revealed 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 refused a enlistment summons, with a solid consensus in favor of cutting state subsidies, passports, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are individuals who live in this nation without contributing," one military member in Tel Aviv explained.

"In my view, no matter how devout, [it] should be an reason not to go and serve your country," said a young woman. "Being a native, I find it rather absurd that you want to exempt yourself just to study Torah all day."

Views from Within the Community

Backing for extending the draft is also found among observant Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the seminary and notes non-Haredi religious Jews who do perform national service while also studying Torah.

"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 teaching in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the scripture and the guns together. That is the path, until the messianic era."

She manages a modest remembrance site in the neighborhood to fallen servicemen, both from all backgrounds, who were fallen in war. Rows of photographs {