🔗 Share this article

An impending crisis over drafting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the governing coalition and dividing the country.

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

The Judicial Conflict

Lawmakers are now debating a piece of legislation to end the exemption granted to Haredi students engaged in Torah study, established when the the nation was founded in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by Israel's High Court of Justice in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to continue it were formally ended by the judiciary last year, pressuring the government to commence conscription of the Haredi sector.

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

Tensions Erupt Into Violence

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with parliamentarians now discussing a new legislative proposal to force ultra-Orthodox men into military service in the same way as other secular Israelis.

Two representatives were harassed this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are furious with parliament's discussion of the draft legislation.

And last week, a elite police squad had to extract enforcement personnel who were targeted by a big group of community members as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

These arrests have led to the development of a new alert system named "Black Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through Haredi neighborhoods and call out activists to prevent arrests from occurring.

"We're a Jewish country," said one protester. "One cannot oppose Judaism in a nation founded on Jewish identity. That is untenable."

An Environment Set Aside

However the transformations affecting Israel have failed to penetrate the confines of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an Haredi enclave on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, young students study together to discuss Jewish law, their brightly coloured writing books standing out against the seats of light-colored shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see a significant portion are pursuing religious study," the head of the seminary, a senior rabbi, explained. "Through religious study, we safeguard the soldiers on the front lines. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and religious study defend Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its security as its conventional forces. This tenet was accepted by previous governments in the previous eras, the rabbi said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Increasing Public Pressure

The ultra-Orthodox population has grown substantially its percentage of the nation's citizens over the last seventy years, and now constitutes 14%. An exemption that started as an deferment for a few hundred religious students turned into, by the beginning of the Gaza war, a cohort of some 60,000 men exempt from the national service.

Polling data show approval of drafting the Haredim is growing. A survey in July found that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing a significant majority in his own coalition allies - favored consequences for those who ignored a draft order, with a firm majority in approving removing privileges, travel documents, or the electoral participation.

"It makes me feel there are people who reside in this country without giving anything back," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv said.

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your country," stated Gabby. "As a citizen by birth, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to opt out just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from the Heart of a Religious City

Advocacy of ending the exemption is also found among religious Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the seminary and points to religious Zionists who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"It makes me angry that ultra-Orthodox people don't serve in the army," she said. "It is unjust. I also believe in the Torah, but there's a saying in Jewish tradition - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the Torah and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

The resident runs a modest remembrance site in her city to local soldiers, both from all backgrounds, who were fallen in war. Lines of images {