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A gathering political storm over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is jeopardizing the governing coalition and splitting the country.

Public opinion on the issue has changed profoundly in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now arguably the most explosive political risk facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Judicial Struggle

Politicians are currently considering a proposal to terminate the deferment given to Haredi students dedicated to full-time religious study, instituted when the the nation was declared in 1948.

The deferment was struck down by the nation's top court two decades ago. Interim measures to continue it were officially terminated by the court last year, compelling the government to start enlisting the Haredi sector.

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

Tensions Spill Into Violence

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now deliberating a new legislative proposal to require Haredi males into national service in the same way as other secular Israelis.

Two representatives were targeted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are enraged with the Knesset's deliberations of the proposed law.

Recently, a elite police squad had to assist army police who were attacked by a big group of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they tried to arrest a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new messaging system named "Dark Alert" to spread word quickly through Haredi neighborhoods and call out demonstrators to block enforcement from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked an activist. "You can't fight against the Jewish faith in a nation founded on Jewish identity. That is untenable."

A Realm Set Aside

However the shifts affecting Israel have failed to penetrate the environment of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, teenage boys study together to debate the Torah, their vividly colored school notebooks popping against the rows of white shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are pursuing religious study," the dean of the academy, a senior rabbi, noted. "By studying Torah, we shield the troops on the front lines. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that continuous prayer and religious study protect Israel's military, and are as essential to its military success as its advanced weaponry. This conviction was accepted by the nation's leaders in the earlier decades, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Rising Public Pressure

This religious sector has grown substantially its percentage of the country's people over the last seventy years, and now constitutes a sizable minority. An exemption that started as an exemption for several hundred yeshiva attendees evolved into, by the start of the recent conflict, a group of tens of thousands of men not subject to the conscription.

Surveys suggest approval of drafting the Haredim is increasing. A survey in July showed that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - encompassing a significant majority in the Prime Minister's political base - backed consequences for those who refused a draft order, with a firm majority in supporting withdrawing benefits, passports, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are individuals who are part of this country without serving," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv explained.

"I don't think, however religious you are, [it] should be an justification not to go and serve your state," said Gabby. "Being a native, I find it rather absurd that you want to exempt yourself just to study Torah all day."

Views from Within a Religious City

Advocacy of ending the exemption is also coming from religious Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like one local resident, who is a neighbor of the seminary and points to religious Zionists who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that ultra-Orthodox people don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it means the Torah and the weapons together. That is the path, until the days of peace."

Ms Barak runs a modest remembrance site in her city to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Long columns of faces {