🔗 Share this article

An impending political storm over enlisting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israel Defense Forces is threatening to undermine the administration and fracturing the country.

The public mood on the matter has undergone a sea change in Israel after two years of war, and this is now possibly the most explosive political challenge facing the Prime Minister.

The Constitutional Battle

Legislators are reviewing a proposal to end the special status given to Haredi students enrolled in full-time religious study, created when the State of Israel was founded in 1948.

That exemption was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court two decades ago. Interim measures to maintain 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 only around 1,200 men from the community reported for duty, according to army data shared with lawmakers.

Friction Erupt Onto the Streets

Strains are boiling over onto the streets, with elected officials now debating a new legislative proposal to require Haredi males into army duty in the same way as other Jewish citizens.

Two representatives were confronted this month by radical elements, who are incensed with the legislative debate of the bill.

Recently, a specialized force had to extract army police who were attacked by a large crowd of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they attempted to detain a man avoiding service.

These enforcement actions have led to the development of a new alert system named "Emergency Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through the religious sector and call out protesters to prevent arrests from occurring.

"We're a Jewish country," said Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose the Jewish faith in a Jewish country. It doesn't work."

A World Set Aside

However the shifts blowing through Israel have not reached the confines of the Torah academy in Bnei Brak, an Haredi enclave on the edge of Tel Aviv.

Inside the classroom, young students learn in partnerships to analyze Jewish law, their vividly colored notepads standing out against the seats of formal attire and traditional skullcaps.

"Visit in the early hours, and you will see many of the students are studying Torah," the leader of the yeshiva, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, said. "Via dedicated learning, we safeguard the soldiers wherever they are. This constitutes our service."

Ultra-Orthodox believe that unceasing devotion and spiritual pursuit protect Israel's armed forces, and are as crucial to its military success as its conventional forces. That belief was accepted by previous governments in the earlier decades, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he admitted that the nation is evolving.

Rising Societal Anger

The ultra-Orthodox population has more than doubled its share of Israel's population over the past seven decades, and now represents a sizable minority. What began as an exemption for several hundred Torah scholars turned into, by the beginning of the recent conflict, a body of approximately 60,000 men not subject to the national service.

Surveys show backing for ending the exemption is rising. A survey in July found that 85% of non-Haredi Jews - encompassing a large segment in his own coalition allies - supported sanctions for those who refused a enlistment summons, with a firm majority in supporting withdrawing benefits, passports, or the electoral participation.

"I feel there are citizens who live in this nation without contributing," one serviceman in Tel Aviv explained.

"I don't think, no matter how devout, [it] should be an justification not to fulfill your duty to your nation," stated a Tel Aviv resident. "If you're born here, I find it somewhat unreasonable that you want to opt out just to engage in religious study all day."

Views from Inside the Community

Backing for extending the draft is also coming from traditional Jews beyond the Haredi community, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the yeshiva and notes non-Haredi religious Jews who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"I am frustrated that the Haredim don't enlist," she said. "This creates inequality. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a saying in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it signifies the Torah and the guns together. This is the correct approach, until the days of peace."

She manages a small memorial in the neighborhood to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Long columns of images {