A Major Crisis Threatens in Israel Regarding Haredi Military Draft Legislation

A gathering crisis over drafting Haredi men into the military is posing a risk to the governing coalition and fracturing the country.

Popular sentiment on the question has shifted dramatically in Israel following two years of war, and this is now possibly the most explosive political issue facing the Prime Minister.

The Judicial Conflict

Lawmakers are currently considering a draft bill to terminate the special status granted to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in Torah study, established when the State of Israel was declared in 1948.

That exemption was struck down by the Supreme Court in the early 2000s. Temporary arrangements to extend it were finally concluded by the court last year, compelling the administration to begin drafting the community.

Roughly 24,000 call-up papers were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community showed up, according to military testimony presented to lawmakers.

Strains Spill Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with lawmakers now deliberating a new conscription law to require yeshiva students into national service in the same way as other Israeli Jews.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were confronted this month by hardline activists, who are furious with the legislative debate of the draft legislation.

In a recent incident, a elite police squad had to assist Military Police officers who were surrounded by a big group of Haredi men as they sought to apprehend a alleged conscription dodger.

These arrests have led to the development of a new messaging system called "Emergency Alert" to send out instant alerts through Haredi neighborhoods and call out activists to stop detentions from happening.

"Israel is a Jewish nation," stated one protester. "It's impossible to battle religious practice in a Jewish country. It is a contradiction."

A Realm Separate

However the shifts sweeping across Israel have not reached the environment of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in a Haredi stronghold, an ultra-Orthodox city on the edge of Tel Aviv.

In the learning space, young students learn in partnerships to discuss the Torah, their vividly colored writing books popping against the seats of white shirts and small black kippahs.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the head of the seminary, the spiritual guide, said. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the soldiers on the front lines. This is our army."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that constant study and Torah learning guard Israel's armed forces, and are as crucial to its security as its advanced weaponry. That belief was acknowledged by the nation's leaders in the past, the rabbi said, but he acknowledged that the nation is evolving.

Increasing Public Pressure

The Haredi community has significantly increased its proportion of Israel's population over the since the state's founding, and now represents 14%. A policy that originated as an exemption for a few hundred Torah scholars evolved into, by the start of the 2023 war, a group of some 60,000 men not subject to the national service.

Opinion polls suggest approval of ultra-Orthodox conscription is rising. A survey in July found that a large majority of secular and traditional Jews - encompassing a large segment in the Prime Minister's political base - backed penalties for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in approving cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the franchise.

"I feel there are citizens who are part of this country without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"It is my belief, no matter how devout, [it] should be an justification not to fulfill your duty to your country," said Gabby. "Being a native, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Views from Within Bnei Brak

Support for ending the exemption is also found among traditional Jews not part of the ultra-Orthodox sector, like Dorit Barak, who is a neighbor of the seminary and points to religious Zionists who do enlist in the army while also studying Torah.

"I am frustrated that the Haredim don't serve in the army," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Jewish law, but there's a saying in Hebrew - 'Safra and Saifa' – it signifies the scripture and the weapons together. This is the correct approach, until the messianic era."

Ms Barak runs a small memorial in her city to fallen servicemen, both religious and secular, who were killed in battle. Rows of images {