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A gathering political storm over enlisting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the governing coalition and fracturing the country.

Popular sentiment on the issue has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now perhaps the most explosive political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Battle

Legislators are currently considering a piece of legislation to abolish the special status awarded to yeshiva scholars enrolled in yeshiva learning, created when the the nation was established in 1948.

That exemption was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Stopgap solutions to extend it were finally concluded by the bench last year, compelling the cabinet to commence conscription of the ultra-Orthodox population.

Approximately 24,000 enlistment orders were sent out last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts reported for duty, according to defense officials shared with lawmakers.

Strains Erupt Into Violence

Tensions are erupting onto the streets, with lawmakers now debating a new draft bill to require Haredi males into national service in the same way as other Israeli Jews.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were targeted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are furious with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

And last week, a elite police squad had to assist army police who were targeted by a large crowd of community members as they attempted to detain a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new communication network called "Black Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through ultra-Orthodox communities and call out demonstrators to block enforcement from happening.

"We're a Jewish country," said one protester. "It's impossible to battle the Jewish faith in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Apart

But the transformations sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an Haredi enclave on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys sit in pairs to discuss Jewish law, their distinctive school notebooks standing out against the lines of light-colored 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 seminary, a senior rabbi, noted. "Through religious study, we protect the soldiers in the field. This constitutes our service."

Haredi Jews maintain that continuous prayer and Torah learning protect Israel's armed forces, and are as essential to its military success as its conventional forces. That belief was acknowledged by previous governments in the past, the rabbi said, but he conceded that Israel was changing.

Increasing Popular Demand

The Haredi community has significantly increased its proportion of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now accounts for around one in seven. An exemption that started as an exemption for a few hundred yeshiva attendees became, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a cohort of some 60,000 men exempt from the draft.

Surveys suggest backing for drafting the Haredim is rising. A poll in July revealed that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - even almost three-quarters in his own coalition allies - supported consequences for those who refused a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in favor of cutting state subsidies, passports, or the right to vote.

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

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your state," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it rather absurd that you want to opt out just to engage in religious study all day."

Perspectives from Inside the Community

Advocacy of broadening conscription is also found among traditional Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who lives near the yeshiva and points to religious Zionists who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that this community don't enlist," she said. "This creates inequality. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it signifies the Torah and the weapons together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

Ms Barak maintains a modest remembrance site in Bnei Brak to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were killed in battle. Long columns of faces {