The issue of conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army has become a thorn in the side of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sparking threats to derail his coalition and trigger early elections if he ends a long-standing exemption.

Military service is mandatory in Israel, but under a ruling established at the country's creation -- when the ultra-Orthodox were a very small community -- men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass.

Whether that should change has been a long-running issue in Israeli society, but efforts to scrap the exemption, and the attendant blowback, have intensified during the nearly 20-month war in Gaza as the military looks for extra manpower.

"Israel is moving closer to elections," read a headline from the ultra-Orthodox newspaper Yated Neeman on Thursday, quoting Rabbi Dov Landau, who leads the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party allied with Netanyahu.

"A........

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