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A gathering crisis over conscripting Haredi men into the Israeli army is threatening to undermine the administration and fracturing the nation.

The public mood on the question has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now perhaps the most divisive political challenge facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Battle

Politicians are reviewing a proposal to end the exemption awarded to yeshiva scholars enrolled in full-time religious study, established when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

The deferment was declared unconstitutional by the nation's top court in the early 2000s. Interim measures to maintain it were formally ended by the judiciary last year, forcing the government to begin drafting the community.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were issued last year, but merely about 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees showed up, according to military testimony presented to lawmakers.

Strains Spill Into Violence

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with parliamentarians now discussing a new draft bill to require ultra-Orthodox men into national service in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

Two representatives were harassed this month by radical elements, who are incensed with the Knesset's deliberations of the bill.

And last week, a elite police squad had to rescue enforcement personnel who were surrounded by a large crowd of Haredi men as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new messaging system named "Dark Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and summon demonstrators to block enforcement from happening.

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

A World Apart

Yet the changes affecting Israel have not yet breached the confines of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an ultra-Orthodox city on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys learn in partnerships to discuss Judaism's religious laws, their distinctive notepads popping against the rows of white shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are engaged in learning," the head of the academy, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, explained. "By studying Torah, we shield the soldiers wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit defend Israel's armed forces, and are as crucial to its military success as its advanced weaponry. That belief was acknowledged by the nation's leaders in the past, the rabbi said, but he admitted that Israel was changing.

Increasing Popular Demand

The ultra-Orthodox population has more than doubled its share of the nation's citizens over the last seventy years, and now represents 14%. A policy that originated as an deferment for a few hundred yeshiva attendees became, by the beginning of the Gaza war, a cohort of some 60,000 men left out of the draft.

Polling data indicate approval of ultra-Orthodox conscription is rising. A survey in July showed that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - including almost three-quarters in his own coalition allies - backed consequences for those who refused a call-up notice, with a clear majority in supporting removing privileges, passports, or the franchise.

"I feel there are citizens who reside in this nation without serving," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, no matter how devout, [it] should be an excuse not to go and serve your nation," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it rather absurd that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Perspectives from Inside a Religious City

Advocacy of broadening conscription is also found among religious Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who is a neighbor of the academy and highlights religious Zionists who do perform national service while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that this community don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Torah, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the weapons together. That is the path, until the days of peace."

Ms Barak maintains a small memorial in her city to fallen servicemen, both from all backgrounds, who were lost in conflict. Lines of images {