A Crisis Threatens in Israel Regarding Haredi Military Draft Proposal

A looming political storm over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is posing a risk to the administration and dividing the nation.

Popular sentiment on the issue has changed profoundly in Israel after two years of hostilities, and this is now possibly the most volatile political challenge facing Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Legal Conflict

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

This arrangement was struck down by Israel's High Court of Justice two decades ago. Temporary arrangements to maintain it were finally concluded by the judiciary last year, forcing the cabinet to begin drafting the ultra-Orthodox population.

Some 24,000 call-up papers were delivered last year, but merely about 1,200 ultra-Orthodox - or Haredi - draftees reported for duty, according to defense officials given to lawmakers.

Friction Boil Over Onto the Streets

Friction is spilling onto the streets, with parliamentarians now discussing a new draft bill to compel Haredi males into national service alongside other Jewish citizens.

A pair of ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were harassed this month by hardline activists, who are incensed with parliament's discussion of the draft legislation.

In a recent incident, a special Border Police unit had to rescue army police who were targeted by a sizeable mob of Haredi men as they attempted to detain a alleged conscription dodger.

Such incidents have sparked the creation of a new messaging system dubbed "Dark Alert" to spread word quickly through ultra-Orthodox communities and summon protesters to prevent arrests from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," said one protester. "It's impossible to battle the Jewish faith in a Jewish state. That is untenable."

An Environment Apart

Yet the changes affecting Israel have not reached the walls of the religious seminary in an ultra-Orthodox city, an Haredi enclave on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Within the study hall, scholars study together to discuss Judaism's religious laws, their distinctive notepads popping against the lines of white shirts and traditional skullcaps.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see half the guys are pursuing religious study," the leader of the seminary, the spiritual guide, explained. "By studying Torah, we protect the troops on the front lines. This is our army."

Haredi Jews maintain that unceasing devotion and religious study protect Israel's soldiers, and are as crucial to its defense as its advanced weaponry. This conviction was acknowledged by Israel's politicians in the past, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he admitted that Israel was changing.

Rising Societal Anger

The ultra-Orthodox population has grown substantially its share of the country's people over the since the state's founding, and now accounts for around one in seven. A policy that originated as an deferment for several hundred religious students became, by the beginning of the Gaza war, a body of some 60,000 men left out of the draft.

Polling data suggest support for drafting the Haredim is rising. A poll in July found that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - even almost three-quarters in the Prime Minister's political base - backed consequences for those who declined a enlistment summons, with a clear majority in approving removing privileges, passports, or the right to vote.

"It makes me feel there are citizens who reside in this country without serving," one military member in Tel Aviv explained.

"In my view, no matter how devout, [it] should be an justification not to perform service your country," added a Tel Aviv resident. "As a citizen by birth, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to exempt yourself just to learn in a yeshiva all day."

Perspectives from Within a Religious City

Backing for broadening conscription is also found among observant Jews outside the Haredi community, like one local resident, who is a neighbor of the academy and points to observant but non-Haredi Jews who do enlist in the army while also engaging in religious study.

"I'm very angry that the Haredim don't perform military service," she said. "It's unfair. I also believe in the Jewish law, but there's a proverb in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it represents the Torah and the defense together. That is the path, until the arrival of peace."

Ms Barak runs a modest remembrance site in her city to local soldiers, both religious and secular, who were killed in battle. Rows of faces {