A Looming Crisis Looms in Israel Over Haredi Military Draft Bill

An impending crisis over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is threatening to undermine Israel's government and fracturing the country.

The public mood on the matter has changed profoundly in Israel following two years of war, and this is now possibly the most volatile political challenge facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Battle

Politicians are currently considering a proposal to terminate the special status given to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in full-time religious study, created when the the nation was established in 1948.

That exemption was declared unconstitutional by the nation's top court two decades ago. Interim measures to maintain it were officially terminated by the court last year, compelling the administration to commence conscription of the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were sent out last year, but just approximately 1,200 Haredi conscripts enlisted, according to army data given to lawmakers.

Strains Erupt Into Violence

Tensions are erupting onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now deliberating a new legislative proposal to require ultra-Orthodox men into army duty together with other Israeli Jews.

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

In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to assist Military Police officers who were surrounded by a sizeable mob of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new messaging system dubbed "Black Alert" to spread word quickly through the religious sector and summon demonstrators to block enforcement from taking place.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated an activist. "It's impossible to battle the Jewish faith in a Jewish state. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Separate

But the shifts affecting Israel have not reached the environment of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an Haredi enclave on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys learn in partnerships to debate the Torah, their brightly coloured notepads standing out against the rows of white shirts and small black kippahs.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see half the guys are pursuing religious study," the dean of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, noted. "Through religious study, we protect the troops in the field. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and Torah learning defend Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its defense as its conventional forces. That belief was acknowledged by the nation's leaders in the past, he said, but he acknowledged that the nation is evolving.

Rising Societal Anger

This religious sector has more than doubled its proportion of Israel's population over the last seventy years, and now constitutes around one in seven. An exemption that started as an exception for several hundred religious students turned into, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a body of some 60,000 men left out of the conscription.

Opinion polls suggest backing for ultra-Orthodox conscription is growing. A poll in July showed that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - encompassing almost three-quarters in his own coalition allies - supported penalties for those who ignored a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in favor of removing privileges, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who live in this nation without serving," one military member in Tel Aviv commented.

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an reason not to go and serve your country," said a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to avoid service just to engage in religious study all day."

Perspectives from Within Bnei Brak

Support for ending the exemption is also expressed by traditional Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the academy and notes religious Zionists who do perform national service while also studying Torah.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a proverb in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the scripture and the guns together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak manages a local tribute in Bnei Brak to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were lost in conflict. Long columns of photographs {