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An impending crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is threatening to undermine the governing coalition and fracturing the nation.

Popular sentiment on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of war, and this is now possibly the most explosive political risk facing the Prime Minister.

The Legal Struggle

Lawmakers are currently considering a piece of legislation to terminate the special status given to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in full-time religious study, instituted when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

The deferment was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to extend it were officially terminated by the bench last year, pressuring the administration to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were sent out last year, but only around 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to military testimony presented to lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Into Public View

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with elected officials now discussing a new draft bill to require yeshiva students into national service alongside other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by radical elements, who are incensed with parliament's discussion of the draft legislation.

Recently, a elite police squad had to assist enforcement personnel who were targeted by a big group of community members as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

These arrests have prompted the establishment of a new communication network dubbed "Emergency Alert" to spread word quickly through ultra-Orthodox communities and call out demonstrators to prevent arrests from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose Judaism in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Apart

Yet the shifts sweeping across Israel have not reached the environment of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in a Haredi stronghold, an religious community on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars sit in pairs to analyze Jewish law, their vividly colored school notebooks standing out against the rows of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are pursuing religious study," the head of the yeshiva, a senior rabbi, explained. "Through religious study, we safeguard the soldiers on the front lines. This is how we contribute."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit defend Israel's military, and are as essential to its security as its advanced weaponry. This tenet was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the previous eras, the rabbi said, but he conceded that public attitudes are shifting.

Increasing Public Pressure

This religious sector has more than doubled its proportion of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now represents around one in seven. What began as an deferment for several hundred Torah scholars turned into, by the onset of the recent conflict, a cohort of some 60,000 men exempt from the conscription.

Opinion polls show approval of drafting the Haredim is rising. A poll in July found that a large majority of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing almost three-quarters in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - favored consequences for those who declined a draft order, with a firm majority in approving cutting state subsidies, travel documents, or the franchise.

"It seems to me there are people who reside in this country without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to fulfill your duty to your nation," stated Gabby. "Being a native, I find it rather absurd that you want to opt out just to engage in religious study all day."

Perspectives from the Heart of the Community

Support for broadening conscription is also coming from religious Jews not part of the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the academy and highlights non-Haredi religious Jews who do enlist in the army while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that this community don't perform military service," she said. "It is unjust. I am also committed to the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the Torah and the defense together. That is the path, until the days of peace."

She maintains a small memorial in her city to soldiers from the area, both religious and secular, who were killed in battle. Rows of faces {