A Major Crisis Looms in Israel Regarding Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Bill

A gathering political storm over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army is threatening to undermine Israel's government and dividing the country.

The public mood on the question has changed profoundly in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now possibly the most explosive political risk facing the Prime Minister.

The Legal Struggle

Politicians are reviewing a draft bill to terminate the exemption granted to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in yeshiva learning, created when the the nation was established in 1948.

That exemption was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to maintain it were formally ended by the bench last year, pressuring the administration to commence conscription of the community.

Some 24,000 draft notices were issued last year, but just approximately 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees showed up, according to military testimony presented to lawmakers.

Strains Erupt Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with elected officials now deliberating a new legislative proposal to require yeshiva students into army duty alongside other Israeli Jews.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were harassed this month by radical elements, who are furious with parliament's discussion of the bill.

And last week, a elite police squad had to assist enforcement personnel who were surrounded by a large crowd of community members as they sought to apprehend a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new alert system named "Dark Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through ultra-Orthodox communities and mobilize demonstrators to block enforcement from taking place.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked an activist. "One cannot oppose religious practice in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Set Aside

Yet the shifts affecting Israel have not yet breached the environment of the Torah academy in Bnei Brak, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys study together to debate the Torah, their distinctive school notebooks popping against the seats of light-colored shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are pursuing religious study," the leader of the academy, the spiritual guide, noted. "Through religious study, we shield the soldiers wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

Haredi Jews maintain that constant study and spiritual pursuit defend Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its military success as its conventional forces. This tenet was acknowledged by previous governments in the earlier decades, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he conceded that Israel was changing.

Increasing Popular Demand

The ultra-Orthodox population has grown substantially its proportion of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now constitutes around one in seven. An exemption that started as an deferment for a few hundred Torah scholars evolved into, by the start of the Gaza war, a cohort of tens of thousands of men not subject to the national service.

Surveys suggest support for drafting the Haredim is growing. A poll in July revealed that an overwhelming percentage of the broader Jewish public - including a large segment in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - backed penalties for those who ignored a draft order, with a solid consensus in supporting withdrawing benefits, passports, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are citizens who reside in this nation without contributing," one serviceman in Tel Aviv commented.

"It is my belief, regardless of piety, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your state," added Gabby. "Being a native, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to exempt yourself just to study Torah all day."

Views from Inside Bnei Brak

Advocacy of broadening conscription is also expressed by religious Jews not part of the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who is a neighbor of the seminary and highlights non-Haredi religious Jews who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"I'm very 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 Jewish tradition - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the scripture and the weapons together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

She maintains a modest remembrance site in the neighborhood to fallen servicemen, both from all backgrounds, who were lost in conflict. Rows of photographs {