A Looming Crisis Looms in Israel Over Haredi Military Draft Bill

A gathering crisis over enlisting Haredi men into the Israeli army is threatening to undermine the administration and dividing the nation.

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

The Constitutional Battle

Politicians are currently considering a piece of legislation to abolish the special status awarded to Haredi students dedicated to yeshiva learning, created when the the nation was founded in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to extend it were formally ended by the court last year, forcing the administration to commence conscription of the Haredi sector.

Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were sent out last year, but merely about 1,200 Haredi conscripts showed up, according to army data presented to lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with lawmakers now deliberating a new legislative proposal to require Haredi males into military service together with other secular Israelis.

Two representatives were targeted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are incensed with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

And last week, a specialized force had to rescue enforcement personnel who were attacked by a large crowd of community members as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

Such incidents have prompted the establishment of a new alert system named "Dark Alert" to spread word quickly through the religious sector and mobilize protesters to prevent arrests from taking place.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," said Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose Judaism in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It is a contradiction."

A World Set Aside

Yet the transformations affecting Israel have not yet breached the confines of the Torah academy in a Haredi stronghold, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, scholars study together to discuss the Torah, their vividly colored school notebooks standing out against the lines of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are engaged in learning," the leader of the academy, a senior rabbi, noted. "Through religious study, we shield the military personnel in the field. This is our army."

The community holds that continuous prayer and Torah learning defend Israel's military, and are as essential to its defense as its conventional forces. This tenet was accepted by previous governments in the past, he said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Rising Societal Anger

The Haredi community has more than doubled its share of the nation's citizens over the past seven decades, and now constitutes a sizable minority. A policy that originated as an exception for several hundred Torah scholars became, by the beginning of the 2023 war, a group of tens of thousands of men not subject to the draft.

Polling data show support for ultra-Orthodox conscription is increasing. Research in July found that an overwhelming percentage of secular and traditional Jews - even almost three-quarters in his own coalition allies - favored consequences for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in favor of cutting state subsidies, travel documents, or the right to vote.

"I feel there are individuals who reside in this country without giving anything back," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv said.

"In my view, however religious you are, [it] should be an justification not to fulfill your duty to your nation," said Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to study Torah all day."

Voices from Within Bnei Brak

Backing for broadening conscription is also coming from observant Jews beyond the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who is a neighbor of the academy and points to observant but non-Haredi Jews who do serve in the military while also studying Torah.

"It makes me angry that this community don't serve in the army," she said. "This creates inequality. I also believe in the Torah, but there's a teaching in Jewish tradition - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the scripture and the defense together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

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