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An impending political storm over conscripting Haredi men into the military is posing a risk to Israel's government and dividing the nation.

The public mood on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel in the wake of two years of war, and this is now arguably the most volatile political issue facing the Prime Minister.

The Judicial Struggle

Politicians are reviewing a piece of legislation to end the special status awarded to Haredi students dedicated to Torah study, instituted when the modern Israel was established in 1948.

The deferment was ruled illegal by the nation's top court two decades ago. Stopgap solutions to maintain it were finally concluded by the bench last year, forcing the government to commence conscription of the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees showed up, according to defense officials given to lawmakers.

Tensions Spill Into Violence

Friction is spilling onto the streets, with elected officials now debating a new draft bill to force Haredi males into army duty in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

Two representatives were targeted this month by radical elements, who are furious with the Knesset's deliberations of the draft legislation.

Recently, a specialized force had to extract army police who were targeted by a big group of Haredi men as they tried to arrest a suspected draft-evader.

These arrests have sparked the creation of a new alert system dubbed "Dark Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and mobilize demonstrators to stop detentions from happening.

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

An Environment Set Aside

But the changes sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the walls of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an religious community on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys learn in partnerships to analyze the Torah, their distinctive school notebooks standing out against the seats of formal attire and traditional skullcaps.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are engaged in learning," the head of the yeshiva, a senior rabbi, said. "Through religious study, we shield the troops wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

Haredi Jews maintain that unceasing devotion and religious study protect Israel's armed forces, and are as essential to its defense as its conventional forces. This tenet was accepted by previous governments in the previous eras, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he acknowledged that Israel was changing.

Growing Public Pressure

This religious sector has more than doubled its share of the nation's citizens over the since the state's founding, and now constitutes 14%. An exemption that started as an deferment for a few hundred Torah scholars became, by the beginning of the Gaza war, a group of some 60,000 men exempt from the national service.

Polling data show backing for ending the exemption is increasing. Research in July found that an overwhelming percentage of non-Haredi Jews - including a significant majority in his own coalition allies - supported sanctions for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in supporting withdrawing benefits, the right to travel, or the franchise.

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

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your state," said Gabby. "Being a native, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from Within Bnei Brak

Backing for ending the exemption is also coming from traditional Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who is a neighbor of the seminary and points to observant but non-Haredi Jews who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"I am frustrated that the Haredim don't perform military service," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Torah, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it signifies the scripture and the guns together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak runs a local tribute in the neighborhood to soldiers from the area, both from all backgrounds, who were lost in conflict. Rows of images {