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An impending political storm over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military is jeopardizing Israel's government and fracturing the country.

Popular sentiment on the question has undergone a sea change in Israel following two years of conflict, and this is now arguably the most divisive political issue facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Constitutional Conflict

Legislators are now debating a piece of legislation to terminate the special status granted to ultra-Orthodox men engaged in yeshiva learning, created when the the nation was founded in 1948.

The deferment was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court almost 20 years ago. Interim measures to continue it were finally concluded by the court last year, pressuring the government to start enlisting the community.

Some 24,000 enlistment orders were delivered last year, but only around 1,200 men from the community enlisted, according to army data presented to lawmakers.

Friction Spill Into Public View

Strains are boiling over onto the city centers, with elected officials now debating a new conscription law to force Haredi males into national service in the same way as other secular Israelis.

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

In a recent incident, a specialized force had to rescue enforcement personnel who were attacked by a large crowd of Haredi men as they tried to arrest a alleged conscription dodger.

These arrests have prompted the establishment of a new communication network called "Emergency Alert" to rapidly disseminate information through Haredi neighborhoods and summon activists to prevent arrests from happening.

"This is a Jewish state," remarked one protester. "It's impossible to battle religious practice in a nation founded on Jewish identity. It doesn't work."

A Realm Apart

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.

Within the study hall, scholars study together to debate the Torah, their distinctive notepads standing out against the lines of light-colored shirts and small black kippahs.

"Come at one in the morning, and you will see many of the students are pursuing religious study," the dean of the seminary, Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, said. "Through religious study, we shield the military personnel wherever they are. This is our army."

The community holds that unceasing devotion and religious study defend Israel's soldiers, and are as vital to its military success as its conventional forces. This conviction was accepted by Israel's politicians in the previous eras, Rabbi Mazuz said, but he admitted that Israel was changing.

Rising Societal Anger

The Haredi community has more than doubled its percentage of Israel's population over the past seven decades, and now represents a sizable minority. An exemption that started as an exception for a few hundred religious students turned into, by the beginning of the Gaza war, a cohort of approximately 60,000 men not subject to the draft.

Polling data indicate approval of drafting the Haredim is rising. Research in July showed that a large majority of the broader Jewish public - including almost three-quarters in his own coalition allies - favored penalties for those who refused a draft order, with a firm majority in favor of cutting state subsidies, the right to travel, or the franchise.

"It makes me feel there are people who live in this nation without serving," one serviceman in Tel Aviv said.

"In my view, no matter how devout, [it] should be an reason not to perform service your state," added a young woman. "Being a native, I find it rather absurd that you want to opt out just to engage in religious study all day."

Views from the Heart of Bnei Brak

Support for ending the exemption is also coming from religious Jews outside the ultra-Orthodox sector, like a Bnei Brak inhabitant, who lives near the yeshiva and notes religious Zionists who do perform national service while also maintaining their faith.

"It makes me angry that this community don't enlist," she said. "This creates inequality. I am also committed to the Torah, but there's a teaching in Hebrew - 'The Book and the Sword' – it signifies the Torah and the defense together. This is the correct approach, until the messianic era."

Ms Barak manages a modest remembrance site in Bnei Brak to soldiers from the area, both observant and non-observant, who were fallen in war. Lines of images {