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A looming crisis over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army is jeopardizing Israel's government and dividing the state.

The public mood on the issue has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of war, and this is now possibly the most explosive political issue facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Judicial Struggle

Politicians are reviewing a piece of legislation to end the deferment awarded to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in yeshiva learning, instituted when the modern Israel was declared in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice in the early 2000s. Stopgap solutions to extend it were officially terminated by the bench last year, forcing the government to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

Approximately 24,000 draft notices were issued last year, but merely about 1,200 men from the community showed up, according to military testimony given to lawmakers.

Strains Erupt Onto the Streets

Tensions are erupting onto the public squares, with parliamentarians now discussing a new legislative proposal to compel yeshiva students into army duty alongside other secular Israelis.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were targeted this month by radical elements, who are enraged with parliament's discussion of the draft legislation.

Recently, a special Border Police unit had to assist Military Police officers who were attacked by a sizeable mob of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they attempted to detain a suspected draft-evader.

These arrests have sparked the creation of a new alert system dubbed "Emergency Alert" to send out instant alerts through the religious sector and mobilize demonstrators to block enforcement from occurring.

"This is a Jewish state," said an activist. "You can't fight against the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. That is untenable."

A World Apart

However the shifts affecting Israel have not reached the environment of the religious seminary in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, scholars study together to analyze Jewish law, their vividly colored school notebooks standing out against the lines of white shirts and head coverings.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see a significant portion are studying Torah," the leader of the seminary, the spiritual guide, explained. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the troops in the field. This is our army."

Haredi Jews maintain that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's military, and are as crucial to its defense as its advanced weaponry. This conviction was acknowledged by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, he said, but he acknowledged that Israel was changing.

Increasing Public Pressure

This religious sector has more than doubled its share of Israel's population over the last seventy years, and now represents 14%. An exemption that started as an exemption for several hundred Torah scholars turned into, by the start of the Gaza war, a cohort of tens of thousands of men left out of the conscription.

Opinion polls indicate support for ending the exemption is rising. A poll in July found that 85% of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing almost three-quarters in his own coalition allies - supported consequences for those who ignored a enlistment summons, with a firm majority in supporting removing privileges, passports, or the franchise.

"It seems to me there are people who are part of this nation without giving anything back," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"In my view, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your state," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Voices from the Heart of a Religious City

Support for ending the exemption is also coming from religious Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the academy and points to religious Zionists who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"It makes me angry that this community don't serve in the army," she said. "It is unjust. I also believe in the Torah, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it means the Torah and the defense together. That is the path, until the messianic era."

Ms Barak runs a modest remembrance site in the neighborhood to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were killed in battle. Rows of faces {