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A looming crisis over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is posing a risk to the administration and splitting the state.

The public mood on the issue has changed profoundly in Israel in the wake of two years of conflict, and this is now arguably the most explosive political issue facing the Prime Minister.

The Judicial Battle

Legislators are currently considering a piece of legislation to abolish the exemption granted to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in Torah study, established when the the nation was declared in 1948.

The deferment was ruled illegal by Israel's High Court of Justice in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to extend it were formally ended by the court last year, forcing the cabinet to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to defense officials shared with lawmakers.

Strains Spill Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the public squares, with parliamentarians now deliberating a new conscription law to compel ultra-Orthodox men into military service alongside other Israeli Jews.

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

Recently, a special Border Police unit had to rescue Military Police officers who were surrounded by a large crowd of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

These enforcement actions have prompted the establishment of a new messaging system called "Dark Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and summon protesters to stop detentions from taking place.

"This is a Jewish state," said Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose Judaism in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It doesn't work."

An Environment Apart

However the transformations blowing through Israel have not yet breached the environment of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys learn in partnerships to analyze Jewish law, their distinctive school notebooks contrasting with the seats of light-colored shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see a significant portion are pursuing religious study," the leader of the academy, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, explained. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the troops on the front lines. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and spiritual pursuit defend Israel's armed forces, and are as crucial to its security as its advanced weaponry. That belief was endorsed by previous governments in the previous eras, the rabbi said, but he conceded that Israel was changing.

Rising Public Pressure

The ultra-Orthodox population has significantly increased its proportion of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now represents around one in seven. What began as an exemption for several hundred religious students evolved into, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a group of tens of thousands of men not subject to the conscription.

Polling data indicate backing for drafting the Haredim is growing. Research in July found that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - even a large segment in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - backed consequences for those who refused a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in favor of withdrawing benefits, passports, or the franchise.

"It seems to me there are individuals who are part of this nation without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv commented.

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to fulfill your duty to your state," stated a young woman. "As a citizen by birth, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Views from Within Bnei Brak

Support for broadening conscription is also expressed by observant Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the seminary and points to religious Zionists who do serve in the military while also maintaining their faith.

"It makes me angry that ultra-Orthodox people don't enlist," she said. "It is unjust. I too follow the Torah, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the Torah and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the messianic era."

The resident manages a local tribute in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were lost in conflict. Lines of faces {