A Crisis Looms in Israel Over Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Proposal

A gathering political storm over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the administration and fracturing the state.

Popular sentiment on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now arguably the most volatile political risk facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Battle

Lawmakers are reviewing a draft bill to terminate the deferment awarded to Haredi students dedicated to yeshiva learning, instituted when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

This arrangement was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to continue it were officially terminated by the judiciary last year, forcing the administration to commence conscription of the Haredi sector.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were issued last year, but just approximately 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees showed up, according to defense officials presented to lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Into Public View

Strains are boiling over onto the public squares, with parliamentarians now debating a new legislative proposal to force yeshiva students into national service in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by radical elements, who are incensed with the legislative debate of the bill.

In a recent incident, a special Border Police unit had to assist enforcement personnel who were attacked by a big group of community members as they tried to arrest a suspected draft-evader.

Such incidents have prompted the establishment of a new alert system named "Dark Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through ultra-Orthodox communities and summon demonstrators to block enforcement from occurring.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked an activist. "You can't fight against the Jewish faith in a Jewish state. It doesn't work."

A World Separate

Yet the changes affecting Israel have not yet breached the environment of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an religious community on the fringes of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys sit in pairs to analyze Jewish law, their distinctive notepads popping against the rows of formal attire and traditional skullcaps.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are pursuing religious study," the dean of the seminary, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, noted. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the troops in the field. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's armed forces, and are as crucial to its military success as its tanks and air force. This conviction was acknowledged by previous governments in the earlier decades, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he conceded that Israel was changing.

Rising Societal Anger

This religious sector has grown substantially its percentage of the country's people over the since the state's founding, and now constitutes around one in seven. A policy that originated as an exemption for a few hundred religious students became, by the start of the 2023 war, a cohort of approximately 60,000 men not subject to the conscription.

Opinion polls indicate approval of drafting the Haredim is growing. A poll in July found that an overwhelming percentage of secular and traditional Jews - including almost three-quarters in Netanyahu's own right-wing Likud party - backed sanctions for those who ignored a enlistment summons, with a firm majority in favor of cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the electoral participation.

"I feel there are people who live in this country without contributing," one military member in Tel Aviv said.

"I don't think, regardless of piety, [it] should be an excuse not to go and serve your nation," added a young woman. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to exempt yourself just to engage in religious study all day."

Voices from the Heart of the Community

Backing for ending the exemption is also expressed by religious Jews beyond the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who resides close to the yeshiva and notes observant but non-Haredi Jews who do serve in the military while also maintaining their faith.

"It makes me angry that this community don't enlist," she said. "It's unfair. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the scripture and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the messianic era."

Ms Barak manages a local tribute in the neighborhood to local soldiers, both religious and secular, who were lost in conflict. Lines of images {