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A looming crisis over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is posing a risk to the administration and splitting the country.

The public mood on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now possibly the most explosive political issue facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Battle

Legislators are now debating a draft bill to abolish the exemption given to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in Torah study, instituted when the the nation was established in 1948.

This arrangement was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court almost 20 years ago. Temporary arrangements to continue it were formally ended by the judiciary last year, forcing the cabinet to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but just approximately 1,200 men from the community showed up, according to defense officials given to lawmakers.

Friction Spill Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the public squares, with parliamentarians now debating a new draft bill to compel yeshiva students into army duty alongside other secular Israelis.

Two representatives were targeted this month by radical elements, who are enraged with the legislative debate of the proposed law.

Recently, a elite police squad had to assist army police who were surrounded by a big group of Haredi men as they tried to arrest a alleged conscription dodger.

These arrests have led to the development of a new communication network called "Black Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through ultra-Orthodox communities and call out activists to block enforcement from happening.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated an activist. "It's impossible to battle Judaism in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Separate

But the transformations blowing through Israel have not yet breached the walls of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, teenage boys sit in pairs to discuss Jewish law, their distinctive writing books standing out against the lines of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are pursuing religious study," the leader of the academy, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, said. "Through religious study, we shield the troops on the front lines. This constitutes our service."

Haredi Jews maintain that continuous prayer and religious study guard Israel's military, and are as essential to its military success as its tanks and air force. That belief was acknowledged by the nation's leaders in the past, the rabbi said, but he admitted that public attitudes are shifting.

Increasing Public Pressure

The Haredi community has grown substantially its percentage of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now represents around one in seven. An exemption that started as an deferment for a few hundred yeshiva attendees evolved into, by the onset of the Gaza war, a body of approximately 60,000 men exempt from the draft.

Opinion polls show support for ending the exemption is growing. A survey in July showed that an overwhelming percentage of the broader Jewish public - encompassing a significant majority in the Prime Minister's political base - favored penalties for those who ignored a call-up notice, with a clear majority in supporting withdrawing benefits, passports, or the electoral participation.

"I feel there are citizens who reside in this country without serving," one military member in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, no matter how devout, [it] should be an reason not to go and serve your nation," added Gabby. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to engage in religious study all day."

Voices from Within Bnei Brak

Advocacy of ending the exemption is also found among religious Jews beyond the Haredi community, like one local resident, who lives near the academy and notes religious Zionists who do perform national service while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that this community don't serve in the army," she said. "It's unfair. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the arrival of peace."

The resident runs a local tribute in the neighborhood to fallen servicemen, both observant and non-observant, who were killed in battle. Rows of photographs {