A Major Crisis Threatens in Israel Regarding Haredi Military Draft Legislation

An impending crisis over drafting Haredi men into the military is jeopardizing Israel's government and dividing the state.

Public opinion on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of conflict, and this is now possibly the most volatile political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Conflict

Politicians are currently considering a proposal to terminate the special status awarded to Haredi students engaged in full-time religious study, established when the the nation was founded in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to continue it were formally ended by the bench last year, compelling the government to start enlisting the community.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but just approximately 1,200 Haredi conscripts showed up, according to army data given to lawmakers.

Tensions Erupt Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with elected officials now deliberating a new legislative proposal to compel Haredi males into army duty alongside other secular Israelis.

Two Haredi politicians were targeted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are enraged with the legislative debate of the proposed law.

In a recent incident, a specialized force had to rescue enforcement personnel who were attacked by a big group of community members as they tried to arrest a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new alert system dubbed "Dark Alert" to spread word quickly through the religious sector and mobilize activists to prevent arrests from happening.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated an activist. "It's impossible to battle religious practice in a Jewish state. That is untenable."

A Realm Apart

But the changes affecting Israel have not yet breached the walls of the religious seminary in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, young students study together to analyze the Torah, their distinctive writing books popping against the lines of formal attire and traditional skullcaps.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are engaged in learning," the leader of the seminary, the spiritual guide, explained. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the soldiers in the field. This is how we contribute."

Haredi Jews maintain that continuous prayer and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its defense as its conventional forces. That belief was endorsed by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he conceded that Israel was changing.

Growing Societal Anger

This religious sector has grown substantially its percentage of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now accounts for 14%. An exemption that started as an exemption for a few hundred religious students evolved into, by the start of the recent conflict, a cohort of some 60,000 men exempt from the national service.

Surveys suggest support for ending the exemption is growing. Research in July found that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - including a significant majority in his own coalition allies - backed consequences for those who declined a call-up notice, with a clear majority in approving cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"I feel there are citizens who reside in this country without contributing," one serviceman in Tel Aviv explained.

"In my view, however religious you are, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your nation," said a young woman. "Being a native, I find it rather absurd that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Perspectives from Inside Bnei Brak

Backing for ending the exemption is also found among religious Jews outside the Haredi community, like one local resident, who resides close to the academy and points to non-Haredi religious Jews who do serve in the military while also engaging in religious study.

"I am frustrated that the Haredim don't serve in the army," she said. "It is unjust. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

The resident manages a small memorial in the neighborhood to soldiers from the area, both religious and secular, who were lost in conflict. Rows of images {