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A looming political storm over drafting Haredi men into the military is threatening to undermine the governing coalition and splitting the country.

Public opinion on the issue has shifted dramatically in Israel following two years of war, and this is now possibly the most divisive political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Struggle

Lawmakers are now debating a proposal to abolish the special status given to Haredi students engaged in yeshiva learning, instituted when the modern Israel was established in 1948.

That exemption was struck down by the nation's top court almost 20 years ago. Interim measures to continue it were formally ended by the bench last year, compelling the cabinet to start enlisting the community.

Roughly 24,000 draft notices were sent out last year, but just approximately 1,200 men from the community showed up, according to military testimony presented to lawmakers.

Tensions Erupt Onto the Streets

Friction is spilling onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now debating a new legislative proposal to compel ultra-Orthodox men into army duty in the same way as other Israeli Jews.

Two representatives were harassed this month by radical elements, who are furious with parliament's discussion of the proposed law.

In a recent incident, a specialized force had to extract army police who were attacked by a big group of Haredi men as they sought to apprehend a suspected draft-evader.

These arrests have prompted the establishment of a new messaging system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through ultra-Orthodox communities and call out activists to block enforcement from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," said Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Apart

Yet the transformations blowing through Israel have not reached the environment of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in Bnei Brak, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, young students sit in pairs to discuss Jewish law, their brightly coloured writing books standing out against the lines of white shirts and small black kippahs.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see many of the students are pursuing religious study," the dean of the yeshiva, a senior rabbi, said. "Through religious study, we protect the soldiers in the field. This is our army."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and Torah learning defend Israel's armed forces, and are as essential to its defense as its conventional forces. This tenet was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the earlier decades, the rabbi said, but he conceded that the nation is evolving.

Growing Societal Anger

The ultra-Orthodox population has grown substantially its proportion of the country's people over the last seventy years, and now constitutes around one in seven. An exemption that started as an exception for a few hundred religious students evolved into, by the onset of the Gaza war, a group of approximately 60,000 men left out of the conscription.

Opinion polls indicate support for drafting the Haredim is growing. Research in July showed that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - including a significant majority in his own coalition allies - backed penalties for those who refused a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in supporting cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who reside in this nation without contributing," one military member in Tel Aviv explained.

"In my view, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to go and serve your country," stated a young woman. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to engage in religious study all day."

Perspectives from Within a Religious City

Advocacy of extending the draft is also coming from traditional Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who resides close to the academy and highlights observant but non-Haredi Jews who do serve in the military while also maintaining their faith.

"I'm very angry that ultra-Orthodox people don't serve in the army," she said. "It is unjust. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it signifies the scripture and the guns together. That is the path, until the messianic era."

Ms Barak maintains a local tribute in the neighborhood to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were killed in battle. Long columns of photographs {