Several prominent rabbis from the religious Zionism movement have called on the IDF to halt the integration of female soldiers into the Armoured Corps.
The rabbis have sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu opposing the move, which is due to be piloted in the near future.
They expressed concern that such a scheme would ‘effectively exclude’ Charedi recruits from serving in the corps, given strict religious laws governing interactions between men and women.
"Turning the Armored Corps [into a] mixed-gender [unit] will place our students before an impossible contradiction between their faith and their operational service,” wrote the signatories, who include the former chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Aryeh Stern.
"When the army advances toward gender mixing prohibited by Judaism, contrary to logic and security needs, we can no longer remain silent.
"This move will effectively exclude Torah and tradition-observant troops from contributing to Israel’s security solely because of their way of life, which will lead to weakening the entire fighting array and to the destruction of the people’s army.
"Capitulating to foreign social agendas that are not the concern of the IDF and are not part of the values of victory harms the security of the state, especially at this time.”
Until now, women could only serve in tanks as part of an all-female unit in the IDF’s Border Defence Corps, but could not do so on the front lines.
The integration pilot was initially supposed to run in 2024, but has been pushed back to November this year at the earliest.
The letter comes at a time of heightened scrutiny over the role of women in the military and female soldiers’ interactions with the Charedi community after two servicewomen had to be evacuated by police from Bnei Brak after they were attacked by a mob of strictly-Orthodox men.
The soldiers had been conducting a routine visit to the home of a member of their unit and ventured into the area unarmed and dressed in long skirts to avoid provoking any tensions, given the fraught relations between the IDF and the Charedi community.
However, a false report emerged that they were members of the military police enforcing conscription orders against draft dodgers.
Police later confirmed that 26 people had been arrested after riot squad officers used stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
However, they have since stated that all 26 have been released. The majority have been freed without charge, though seven – three adults and four minors – were retained on house arrest after hearings at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court and Bat Yam Juvenile Court.
The riots were condemned by the IDF’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who said: “A reality in which IDF soldiers, men and women, cannot move freely within the State of Israel is an intolerable reality that must be addressed.
"We will not accept harm to our soldiers, and I expect that the law will be fully enforced against those who harmed you."
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