As Israel mobilizes an additional 60,000 reservists for its Gaza City offensive, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a showdown over mandatory military service for the Ultra-Orthodox community, a debate sharpened by the strain on reservists pulled from their families for months at a time.

During Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion reached an agreement with the Ultra-Orthodox community to exempt full-time Bible students from the army. The arrangement, known as “Torato manuto” — literally “his Torah is his occupation” — originally applied to only a few hundred students. 

Today, that community makes up roughly 15% of Israel’s population of 10 million, a share projected to grow to about a third by 2050 due to high birth rates.

During a tour of the Gaza Strip late last month IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir  called for enlistment from all sectors.

“Israel’s security requires the full partnership of all parts of the nation. This is a civic duty and a national imperative. I call on everyone to enlist and contribute their share equally; this is the call of the hour,” Zamir said.

Netzach Yehuda soldiers reading from a torah scroll during the battalion training. Netzach Yehuda is a Haredi battalion of the Kfir brigade in the IDF.  (Hillel Maeir/TPS-IL)

In the interim, the IDF is making strides to accommodate religious soldiers. In January, dozens of Ultra-Orthodox recruits joined the military’s new Hasmonean Brigade. The Netzah Yehuda Battalion, formerly Nahal Haredi, enables Haredi men to serve as combat soldiers while observing strict religious practices.

In June, the IDF announced it would issue more than 50,000 draft orders to Ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students and increase enforcement against draft evasion.

“We are attempting to change a situation that has existed for 77 years,” Likud’s Edelstein told Fox News Digital. “It’s a big and difficult shift, a scary change, but it’s necessary.”

“We have no choice — both for military and social reasons,” he said.