At a time when Israel is engaged in a long war in Gaza, the broad exemptions from compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have reopened a deep division in the country and shaken the government coalition, as colleagues of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the war cabinet strongly oppose the proposed new compulsory conscription law.

By the end of this month, the Israeli government must present legislation aimed at increasing recruitment among the religious community. As the deadline approaches, public discourse has become increasingly toxic — a departure from the unity demonstrations early in the war.

So far, Netanyahu’s government has survived the public anger sparked by Hamas’s attack on October 7, which ignited the war, but the draft law has put it in a dilemma. The collapse of the three-member war government would undermine the country’s stability at a sensitive time of fighting. However, losing the ultra-Orthodox parties could topple his broader ruling coalition and sink the country into new elections where he and his Likud party lag badly in polls.

Ghilad Malach, an expert on ultra-Orthodox Jews at the Israeli Democracy Institute, a research center in Jerusalem, said: “From a political perspective, this is one of the most tangible threats to the government.”

Most Jewish men are required to serve about three years followed by years of reserve duty. Jewish women serve two mandatory years. But politically ultra-Orthodox religious men, who make up about 13% of Israeli society, traditionally receive exemptions if they study full-time in religious institutes, and the exemptions — and the state salaries many of the yeshiva students receive until age 26 — have sparked public anger.

The Supreme Court ruled the current system discriminatory and gave the government a deadline until April 1 to submit a bill and June 30 to pass it.

Yoav Galant and Benny Gantz — who along with Netanyahu form the war government — said the law proposed by the prime minister does not go far enough toward increasing the number of ultra-Orthodox who will join the army, while critics say some aspects, like raising the exemption age, could reduce numbers.

Gantz, Netanyahu’s biggest political rival, said he would leave the government if the conscription law were weakened or failed to be passed by the deadline. Defense Minister Galant said he would only support the new law with backing from Gantz and more centrist members of the country’s wartime emergency government.

The government is made up of ultra-Orthodox and far-right religious nationalist parties, joined in the early days of the war by a faction led by former military generals, including Gantz. The union was intended as a show of unity following the events of October 7, but the two sides differ widely on the issue of conscription.

After the Hamas attack, Israel activated 360,000 reserve soldiers, its largest mobilization since the 1973 Middle East war. Many have been released since, but they are expected to return to active duty in the coming months. The increased reserve service and talk of lengthening compulsory service have deepened public anger.

Among the Jewish majority in Israel, compulsory military service is largely seen as a melting pot and rite of passage, while ultra-Orthodox Jews say integration into the army would threaten their generations-old lifestyle, and that their religious lifestyle and dedication to upholding Jewish commandments protect Israel as much as a strong army does.

Yona Kruskal, 42, a father of 11 and a full-time yeshiva student, while blocking traffic in Jerusalem with about 200 others last week in one of repeated protests against conscription, said: “We would rather die than serve in the Israeli army,” “There’s no way you can force us to go to the army, because we are determined that the army and religion contradict each other.”

While ultra-Orthodox Jews clashed with police in the protest and were scolded by other Israelis, they chanted “Shame! Shame!”

A man shouted, “My friends are sitting in Gaza while you are here, sitting on the ground.” A woman yelled at protesters that her son is serving in Gaza to protect them.

Oren Shvil, founder of the “Brothers in Arms” group, a protest group representing reservists opposing Netanyahu, said ultra-Orthodox Jews benefit from army protection without participating. He added: “There is one law for everyone, and it must be applied equally.”

Economists say the system is unsustainable. With rising birth rates, the ultra-Orthodox community is the fastest-growing segment of the population, about 4% annually. Each year, nearly 13,000 ultra-Orthodox males reach conscription age (18), but less than 10% of them enlist, according to the State Control Committee in the Israeli parliament, which recently held a hearing on this matter.

Yoaz Hendel, Netanyahu’s former aide and a minister who just completed four months of reserve service as a special forces unit commander, said: “One of the things that was debatable in the past and now is more clear is that we need more soldiers.” He said the burden of service should be shared equally among all sectors of the population.

The shock of the October 7 attack seems to have sparked some enthusiasm among ultra-Orthodox Jews for service, but large numbers have not enlisted, according to Israeli media. The army declined to comment on the enlistment rate of ultra-Orthodox Jews.

This controversy has long divided Israel, and a series of court rulings have repeatedly found the system unfair. But Israeli leaders, under pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties, have repeatedly faltered. It remains unclear whether Netanyahu will be able to do so again.

The dispute over exemptions worsened last year when Netanyahu’s government pushed ahead with a legal system reform supported by far-right Orthodox ruling partners seeking to bypass court decisions regarding conscription. The government froze the reform process after the war broke out.

The army has tried to accommodate ultra-Orthodox Jews by creating separate units that allow them to maintain their religious practices, including minimizing interaction with women.

Efraim Loef (65), a full-time student at a religious school in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish city of Bnei Brak, rejected such efforts, saying that men who join these units are not “real Haredim,” as ultra-Orthodox Jews are called in Hebrew.

“The army is the final stage of Israeli education to turn people into secular Israelis and separate them from their Jewish heritage,” Loef said, describing how one of his eight sons “lost his way” through full-time education and served in the army as a truck driver for a year and a half.

One of the country’s two chief rabbis, Yitzhak Yosef, said this month that ultra-Orthodox Jews “will all move abroad” if forced to enlist. This comment sparked condemnation for encouraging Israelis to leave during a national crisis, and ridicule because many secular Israelis would not mind ultra-Orthodox Jews leaving collectively, Malach from the Israeli Democracy Institute said.

On the contrary, Malach said the far-right Orthodox leadership’s unwillingness to make concessions even when other parts of Israeli society are making significant sacrifices has alienated more of the public.

He added: “In this government, I do not see a real chance for change.” “But if elections were held and there was a coalition without the Haredim or with weak Haredim, change might be possible.”