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An impending crisis over drafting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is posing a risk to the governing coalition and splitting the state.

The public mood on the matter has changed profoundly in Israel following two years of conflict, and this is now possibly the most volatile political challenge facing the Prime Minister.

The Judicial Battle

Legislators are reviewing a draft bill to abolish the deferment given to yeshiva scholars engaged in Torah study, instituted when the modern Israel was founded in 1948.

This arrangement was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice almost 20 years ago. Stopgap solutions to continue it were officially terminated by the court last year, forcing the cabinet to begin drafting the Haredi sector.

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

Friction Boil Over Into Violence

Friction is spilling onto the city centers, with parliamentarians now deliberating a new legislative proposal to compel yeshiva students into army duty alongside other Jewish citizens.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were confronted this month by some extreme ultra-Orthodox protesters, who are incensed with the legislative debate of the bill.

Recently, a special Border Police unit had to rescue enforcement personnel who were surrounded by a large crowd of community members as they tried to arrest a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new communication network called "Black Alert" to spread word quickly through the religious sector and summon protesters to block enforcement from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," stated one protester. "You can't fight against religious practice in a Jewish country. It doesn't work."

A World Separate

But the shifts affecting Israel have not reached the walls of the Torah academy in Bnei Brak, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, teenage boys sit in pairs to discuss Jewish law, their brightly coloured school notebooks standing out against the lines of white shirts and head coverings.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are engaged in learning," the dean of the yeshiva, the spiritual guide, explained. "Through religious study, we protect the soldiers in the field. This constitutes our service."

Haredi Jews maintain that continuous prayer and spiritual pursuit defend Israel's soldiers, and are as essential to its military success as its advanced weaponry. This tenet was acknowledged by Israel's politicians in the earlier decades, the rabbi said, but he acknowledged that public attitudes are shifting.

Growing Public Pressure

This religious sector has more than doubled its percentage of the country's people over the past seven decades, and now represents 14%. An exemption that started as an exception for a small number of yeshiva attendees turned into, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a body of tens of thousands of men not subject to the conscription.

Polling data show support for ending the exemption is increasing. A poll in July revealed that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing a large segment in his own coalition allies - backed penalties for those who refused a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in approving withdrawing benefits, travel documents, or the franchise.

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

"It is my belief, regardless of piety, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your state," said Gabby. "As a citizen by birth, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to exempt yourself just to study Torah all day."

Voices from Within the Community

Backing for extending the draft is also found among observant Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who resides close to the seminary and highlights religious Zionists who do perform national service while also engaging in religious study.

"It makes me angry that this community don't perform military service," she said. "It is unjust. I also believe in the Torah, but there's a teaching in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it means the Torah and the weapons together. This is the correct approach, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak maintains a small memorial in her city to fallen servicemen, both observant and non-observant, who were lost in conflict. Lines of images {