🔗 Share this article A Crisis Looms in Israel Concerning Haredi Conscription Proposal The push to conscript more ultra-Orthodox men triggered a huge protest in Jerusalem last month. A looming crisis over drafting Haredi men into the Israeli army is posing a risk to the administration and splitting the state. Popular sentiment on the question has changed profoundly in Israel following two years of war, and this is now perhaps the most divisive political challenge facing the Prime Minister. The Constitutional Conflict Legislators are currently considering a proposal to end the exemption granted to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in full-time religious study, created when the the nation was founded in 1948. This arrangement was declared unconstitutional by the nation's top court in the early 2000s. Interim measures to maintain it were finally concluded by the court last year, compelling the government to start enlisting the community. Roughly 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but just approximately 1,200 Haredi conscripts reported for duty, according to army data presented to lawmakers. A memorial for those fallen in the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks and ongoing conflict has been created at a central location in Tel Aviv. Strains Boil Over Into Public View Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with elected officials now debating a new legislative proposal to force Haredi males into military service together with other Israeli Jews. Two Haredi politicians were harassed this month by hardline activists, who are furious with the legislative debate of the proposed law. And last week, a specialized force had to assist enforcement personnel who were attacked by a large crowd of ultra-Orthodox protesters as they tried to arrest a alleged conscription dodger. These enforcement actions have sparked the creation of a new messaging system called "Emergency Alert" to send out instant alerts through ultra-Orthodox communities and summon activists to stop detentions from taking place. "We're a Jewish country," stated Shmuel Orbach. "One cannot oppose religious practice in a nation founded on Jewish identity. That is untenable." A Realm Apart Within a classroom at a religious seminary, young students study the Torah and Talmud. Yet the changes blowing through Israel have not yet breached the walls of the Torah academy in an ultra-Orthodox city, an ultra-Orthodox city on the edge of Tel Aviv. Inside the classroom, teenage boys study together to discuss Jewish law, their brightly coloured school notebooks standing out against the seats of light-colored shirts and head coverings. "Come at one in the morning, and you will see half the guys are studying Torah," the leader of the seminary, a senior rabbi, said. "Via dedicated learning, we shield the military personnel in the field. This is our army." Ultra-Orthodox believe that constant study and Torah learning guard Israel's armed forces, and are as essential to its security as its tanks and air force. This tenet was accepted by previous governments in the previous eras, he said, but he admitted that Israel was changing. Growing Societal Anger The ultra-Orthodox population has more than doubled its share of the nation's citizens over the last seventy years, and now represents a sizable minority. A policy that originated as an exemption for several hundred Torah scholars became, by the onset of the Gaza war, a body of tens of thousands of men exempt from the draft. Surveys suggest backing for drafting the Haredim is rising. A poll in July found that an overwhelming percentage of secular and traditional Jews - even a significant majority in the Prime Minister's political base - favored sanctions for those who ignored a call-up notice, with a solid consensus in favor of cutting state subsidies, travel documents, or the right to vote. "It seems to me there are people who reside in this country without contributing," one military member in Tel Aviv said. "I don't think, regardless of piety, [it] should be an excuse not to fulfill your duty to your country," added Gabby. "If you're born here, I find it rather absurd that you want to avoid service just to engage in religious study all day." Voices from Within a Religious City Dorit Barak maintains a remembrance site remembering fallen soldiers from the area who have been fallen in Israel's wars. Support for extending the draft is also coming from traditional Jews not part of the Haredi community, like Dorit Barak, who resides close to the seminary and notes religious Zionists who do serve in the military while also studying Torah. "I'm very angry that the Haredim don't serve in the army," she said. "It's unfair. I too follow the Jewish law, but there's a teaching in Jewish tradition - 'Safra and Saifa' – it represents the scripture and the guns together. This is the correct approach, until the messianic era." The resident manages a small memorial in Bnei Brak to local soldiers, both observant and non-observant, who were killed in battle. Rows of images {