🔗 Share this article

An impending political storm over enlisting Haredi men into the Israeli army is posing a risk to the governing coalition and fracturing the nation.

The public mood on the matter has shifted dramatically in Israel after two years of conflict, and this is now possibly the most divisive political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Conflict

Lawmakers are reviewing a draft bill to end the deferment awarded to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in yeshiva learning, created when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

That exemption was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court almost 20 years ago. Interim measures to extend it were formally ended by the court last year, pressuring the cabinet to commence conscription of the community.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community reported for duty, according to military testimony presented to lawmakers.

Friction Boil Over Into Public View

Tensions are erupting onto the public squares, with lawmakers now deliberating a new conscription law to compel Haredi males into military service together with other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were targeted this month by radical elements, who are furious with the legislative debate of the proposed law.

In a recent incident, a specialized force had to rescue Military Police officers who were surrounded by a big group of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they sought to apprehend a man avoiding service.

These arrests have prompted the establishment of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to send out instant alerts through the religious sector and summon demonstrators to block enforcement from happening.

"We're a Jewish country," said an activist. "One cannot oppose religious practice in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Set Aside

Yet the changes affecting Israel have failed to penetrate the confines of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, young students learn in partnerships to debate Judaism's religious laws, their distinctive writing books popping against the rows of light-colored shirts and head coverings.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see a significant portion are pursuing religious study," the head of the seminary, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, explained. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the troops on the front lines. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that unceasing devotion and religious study defend Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its security as its advanced weaponry. This tenet was endorsed by Israel's politicians in the past, the rabbi said, but he conceded that Israel was changing.

Rising Public Pressure

The Haredi community has significantly increased its share of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now represents around one in seven. What began as an exception for several hundred religious students evolved into, by the onset of the recent conflict, a body of some 60,000 men left out of the national service.

Polling data show backing for drafting the Haredim is rising. Research in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - even almost three-quarters in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - supported sanctions for those who refused a draft order, with a clear majority in favor of withdrawing benefits, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"I feel 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 excuse not to go and serve your state," added a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to study Torah all day."

Views from the Heart of a Religious City

Advocacy of broadening conscription is also coming from observant Jews outside the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who is a neighbor of the yeshiva and points to religious Zionists who do enlist in the army while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I too follow the Torah, but there's a teaching in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the scripture and the defense together. That's the way forward, until the days of peace."

She manages a small memorial in her city to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were fallen in war. Rows of faces {