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A gathering political storm over enlisting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces is threatening to undermine the administration and splitting the country.

Public opinion on the issue has shifted dramatically in Israel in the wake of two years of conflict, and this is now possibly the most divisive political challenge facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Conflict

Legislators are currently considering a draft bill to end the exemption awarded to ultra-Orthodox men enrolled in Torah study, created when the State of Israel was established in 1948.

That exemption was declared unconstitutional by Israel's High Court of Justice in the early 2000s. Interim measures to maintain it were officially terminated by the bench last year, forcing the government to commence conscription of the ultra-Orthodox population.

Some 24,000 draft notices were sent out last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community enlisted, according to defense officials given to lawmakers.

Tensions Boil Over Into Public View

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with lawmakers now deliberating a new conscription law to require ultra-Orthodox men into national service in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

Two representatives were targeted this month by radical elements, who are furious with the legislative debate of the proposed law.

And last week, a elite police squad had to extract Military Police officers who were targeted by a sizeable mob of Haredi men as they sought to apprehend a suspected draft-evader.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new messaging system named "Dark Alert" to send out instant alerts through ultra-Orthodox communities and summon activists to block enforcement from happening.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated one protester. "You can't fight against the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. That is untenable."

A Realm Apart

Yet the changes blowing through Israel have failed to penetrate the walls of the religious seminary in Bnei Brak, an religious community on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, teenage boys sit in pairs to debate Jewish law, their brightly coloured writing books standing out against the lines of white shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the head of the seminary, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, said. "Via dedicated learning, we protect the military personnel wherever they are. This is how we contribute."

Haredi Jews maintain that constant study and religious study defend Israel's armed forces, and are as essential to its defense as its tanks and air force. This conviction was acknowledged by Israel's politicians in the previous eras, he said, but he acknowledged that Israel was changing.

Increasing Societal Anger

The Haredi community has more than doubled its proportion of the nation's citizens over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for 14%. An exemption that started as an exception for several hundred Torah scholars became, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a cohort of tens of thousands of men left out of the draft.

Surveys suggest support for ending the exemption is growing. A survey in July showed that an overwhelming percentage of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing a significant majority in his own coalition allies - favored penalties for those who ignored a enlistment summons, with a solid consensus in favor of withdrawing benefits, travel documents, or the electoral participation.

"It seems to me there are citizens who are part of this country without serving," one off-duty soldier in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, regardless of piety, [it] should be an excuse not to perform service your state," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it quite ridiculous that you want to exempt yourself just to engage in religious study all day."

Views from the Heart of Bnei Brak

Backing for broadening conscription is also expressed by religious Jews not part of the Haredi community, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the academy and highlights religious Zionists who do enlist in the army while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that this community don't perform military service," she said. "It is unjust. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the Torah and the guns together. That's the way forward, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak runs a local tribute in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were killed in battle. Rows of faces {