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A looming political storm over drafting Haredi men into the Israeli army is jeopardizing the governing coalition and splitting the state.

The public mood on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of war, and this is now arguably the most divisive political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Battle

Legislators are reviewing a piece of legislation to end the deferment given to yeshiva scholars enrolled in yeshiva learning, instituted when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

That exemption was struck down by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Stopgap solutions to extend it were formally ended by the judiciary last year, forcing the cabinet to start enlisting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts reported for duty, according to defense officials shared with lawmakers.

Strains Boil Over Into Violence

Friction is spilling onto the public squares, with lawmakers now debating a new draft bill to force Haredi males into army duty alongside other secular Israelis.

Two Haredi politicians were confronted this month by hardline activists, who are furious with the Knesset's deliberations of the proposed law.

In a recent incident, a specialized force had to rescue army police who were attacked by a large crowd of community members as they attempted to detain a alleged conscription dodger.

These enforcement actions have led to the development of a new alert system called "Black Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and mobilize activists to prevent arrests from taking place.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated an activist. "You can't fight against Judaism in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

A World Separate

Yet the changes blowing through Israel have not yet breached the environment of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an Haredi enclave on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars sit in pairs to analyze the Torah, their distinctive writing books contrasting with the lines of white shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see a significant portion are pursuing religious study," the dean of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, explained. "Through religious study, we safeguard the troops in the field. This is our army."

Haredi Jews maintain that unceasing devotion and religious study guard Israel's armed forces, and are as vital to its security as its advanced weaponry. This tenet was endorsed by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, he said, but he acknowledged that public attitudes are shifting.

Rising Societal Anger

The Haredi community has grown substantially its percentage of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now constitutes a sizable minority. What began as an exception for several hundred Torah scholars evolved into, by the onset of the recent conflict, a cohort of tens of thousands of men left out of the national service.

Polling data show backing for drafting the Haredim is increasing. A poll in July revealed that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing almost three-quarters in the Prime Minister's political base - backed consequences for those who declined a draft order, with a clear majority in approving removing privileges, passports, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who live in this nation without giving anything back," one serviceman in Tel Aviv commented.

"In my view, however religious you are, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your nation," stated Gabby. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to exempt yourself just to study Torah all day."

Voices from the Heart of the Community

Support for ending the exemption is also coming from traditional Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the academy and highlights observant but non-Haredi Jews who do enlist in the army while also studying Torah.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it signifies the scripture and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

The resident maintains a modest remembrance site in the neighborhood to fallen servicemen, both observant and non-observant, who were lost in conflict. Long columns of faces {