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A gathering political storm over conscripting Haredi men into the Israeli army is posing a risk to Israel's government and dividing the nation.

Public opinion on the issue has shifted dramatically in Israel following two years of conflict, and this is now arguably the most explosive political challenge facing the Prime Minister.

The Legal Battle

Politicians are currently considering a proposal to abolish the special status given to yeshiva scholars engaged in yeshiva learning, instituted when the the nation was established in 1948.

The deferment was declared unconstitutional by the nation's top court in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to continue it were formally ended by the bench last year, pressuring the cabinet to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 draft notices were delivered last year, but just approximately 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees showed up, according to military testimony shared with lawmakers.

Friction Boil Over Into Violence

Friction is spilling onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now discussing a new legislative proposal to force Haredi males into army duty together with other Israeli Jews.

Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are incensed with parliament's discussion of the proposed law.

In a recent incident, a specialized force had to assist enforcement personnel who were targeted by a big group of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they tried to arrest a suspected draft-evader.

These arrests have led to the development of a new communication network dubbed "Emergency Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and mobilize protesters to block enforcement from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," said an activist. "You can't fight against Judaism in a nation founded on Jewish identity. That is untenable."

An Environment Set Aside

But the shifts sweeping across Israel have not reached the environment of the religious seminary in a Haredi stronghold, an ultra-Orthodox city on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys study together to discuss Jewish law, their brightly coloured writing books contrasting with the lines of white shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see a significant portion are pursuing religious study," the leader of the academy, a senior rabbi, said. "Through religious study, we shield the troops in the field. This constitutes our service."

Haredi Jews maintain that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit defend Israel's armed forces, and are as crucial to its defense as its tanks and air force. This tenet was accepted by Israel's politicians in the previous eras, the rabbi said, but he acknowledged that public attitudes are shifting.

Increasing Societal Anger

The Haredi community has grown substantially its percentage of Israel's population over the past seven decades, and now represents 14%. An exemption that started as an deferment for a small number of Torah scholars evolved into, by the onset of the Gaza war, a cohort of tens of thousands of men not subject to the draft.

Surveys indicate approval of drafting the Haredim is increasing. A survey in July found that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - even almost three-quarters in the Prime Minister's political base - favored consequences for those who refused a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in approving cutting state subsidies, passports, or the franchise.

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

"I don't think, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your state," said a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to avoid service just to engage in religious study all day."

Voices from the Heart of a Religious City

Support for broadening conscription is also found among religious Jews beyond the Haredi community, like one local resident, who lives near the yeshiva and highlights non-Haredi religious Jews who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"I am frustrated that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the scripture and the defense together. That's the way forward, until the arrival of peace."

The resident runs a small memorial in her city to local soldiers, both religious and secular, who were fallen in war. Long columns of faces {