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An impending political storm over conscripting Haredi men into the military is jeopardizing the governing coalition and fracturing the nation.

Popular sentiment on the question has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now perhaps the most volatile political challenge facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Battle

Politicians are reviewing a piece of legislation to end the deferment given to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in Torah study, instituted when the the nation was founded in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by the nation's top court almost 20 years ago. Interim measures to maintain it were officially terminated by the bench last year, compelling the administration to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees enlisted, according to army data presented to lawmakers.

Tensions Spill Into Violence

Friction is spilling onto the city centers, with elected officials now deliberating a new legislative proposal to force yeshiva students into national service in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were targeted this month by hardline activists, who are enraged with the legislative debate of the bill.

In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to extract Military Police officers who were attacked by a big group of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

These arrests have led to the development of a new alert system named "Dark Alert" to send out instant alerts through Haredi neighborhoods and call out demonstrators to block enforcement from occurring.

"We're a Jewish country," remarked one protester. "You can't fight against Judaism in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It doesn't work."

An Environment Apart

However the shifts affecting Israel have not yet breached the confines of the Torah academy in a Haredi stronghold, an ultra-Orthodox city on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, young students study together to discuss the Torah, their vividly colored notepads standing out against the rows of light-colored shirts and head coverings.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the leader of the seminary, the spiritual guide, said. "Through religious study, we safeguard the troops wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit defend Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its security as its tanks and air force. This conviction was accepted by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, he said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Rising Popular Demand

The ultra-Orthodox population has grown substantially its share of the country's people over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for a sizable minority. An exemption that started as an exemption for a few hundred Torah scholars evolved into, by the start of the Gaza war, a group of some 60,000 men not subject to the conscription.

Opinion polls suggest approval of ultra-Orthodox conscription is rising. Research in July showed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - even a large segment in his own coalition allies - favored penalties for those who ignored a enlistment summons, with a solid consensus in favor of removing privileges, travel documents, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who are part of this country without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv explained.

"I don't think, however religious you are, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your country," added Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to avoid service just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Views from Inside Bnei Brak

Support for extending the draft is also found among traditional Jews not part of the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the yeshiva and highlights religious Zionists who do enlist in the army while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a saying in Jewish tradition - 'The Book and the Sword' – it means the scripture and the weapons together. This is the correct approach, until the messianic era."

She maintains a small memorial in the neighborhood to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Long columns of faces {