From the fallout of multi-fronted wars and demands for accountability over security failures to mounting concerns over the cost of living, Israelis are grappling with a series of crises ahead of the October 27 election .

Yet one contentious issue has come to dominate headlines during the campaign: whether Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority should serve in the military.

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An estimated 80,000 ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men aged between 18 and 24 are currently avoiding military service, a figure whose significance grows with every report of staff shortages in the Israeli army.

For their political supporters in the Knesset’s Haredi Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) parties, they are helping preserve…