🔗 Share this article

A looming crisis over conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army is posing a risk to the governing coalition and fracturing the nation.

Public opinion on the issue has shifted dramatically in Israel in the wake of two years of hostilities, and this is now possibly the most volatile political risk facing the Prime Minister.

The Legal Struggle

Politicians are currently considering a draft bill to abolish the exemption given to Haredi students enrolled in yeshiva learning, instituted when the State of Israel was founded in 1948.

That exemption was declared unconstitutional by Israel's High Court of Justice almost 20 years ago. Temporary arrangements to continue it were officially terminated by the bench last year, compelling the government to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but just approximately 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to army data shared with lawmakers.

Tensions Boil Over Into Violence

Tensions are erupting onto the public squares, with parliamentarians now debating a new legislative proposal to require Haredi males into military service alongside other secular Israelis.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were targeted this month by radical elements, who are enraged with the legislative debate of the proposed law.

Recently, a special Border Police unit had to assist Military Police officers who were attacked by a sizeable mob of community members as they sought to apprehend a suspected draft-evader.

These arrests have prompted the establishment of a new messaging system called "Black Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through ultra-Orthodox communities and mobilize activists to prevent arrests from happening.

"We're a Jewish country," said one protester. "One cannot oppose religious practice in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

An Environment Apart

But the shifts sweeping across Israel have failed to penetrate the walls of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, teenage boys sit in pairs to discuss Jewish law, their distinctive school notebooks standing out against the rows of white shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Arrive late at night, and you will see a significant portion are engaged in learning," the dean of the seminary, the spiritual guide, noted. "Through religious study, we shield the soldiers wherever they are. This is our army."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and Torah learning protect Israel's military, and are as vital to its security as its tanks and air force. That belief was accepted by the nation's leaders in the past, the rabbi said, but he acknowledged that public attitudes are shifting.

Growing Popular Demand

This religious sector has grown substantially its share of the nation's citizens over the last seventy years, and now represents around one in seven. What began as an deferment for a small number of religious students evolved into, by the start of the 2023 war, a group of tens of thousands of men exempt from the conscription.

Opinion polls indicate backing for ultra-Orthodox conscription is growing. Research in July found that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - including a large segment in the Prime Minister's political base - favored penalties for those who refused a draft order, with a firm majority in supporting cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the right to vote.

"It seems to me there are citizens who are part of this nation without giving anything back," one military member in Tel Aviv explained.

"I don't think, no matter how devout, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your country," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to avoid service just to study Torah all day."

Voices from Inside a Religious City

Advocacy of extending the draft is also expressed by religious Jews beyond the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the seminary and notes non-Haredi religious Jews who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"I am frustrated that this community don't perform military service," she said. "It is unjust. I too follow the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the weapons together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

The resident runs a small memorial in Bnei Brak to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were lost in conflict. Lines of photographs {