Military service is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis, both men and women. The exemption for the ultra-Orthodox, known in Hebrew as Haredim, has long been resented by the rest of the Jewish population. But the nearly two-year war in Gaza has turned an irritant into a political crisis that is deepening divisions in Israeli society and imperiling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile coalition.

 The War in Israel Over Serving in War

By Elisabeth BumillerNatan Odenheimer and Johnatan Reiss

The journalists reported from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Bat Yam, Israel.