Women in the Israel Defense Forces
Encyclopedia
Women in the Israeli Defense Forces are female
soldiers who serve in the Israel Defense Forces
. Israel
is the only country in the world with a mandatory military service requirement
for women. Women have taken part in Israel’s military before and since the founding of the state in 1948, with women currently comprising 34% of all IDF soldiers, fulfilling various roles within the Ground
, Navy and Air
Forces. The 2000 Equality amendment to the Military Service law states that "The right of women to serve in any role in the IDF is equal to the right of men." Currently, 88% of all roles in the IDF are open to female candidates, while women can be found in 69% of all positions.
and Hagana organizations. The Hagana stated in its law that its lines were open to: "Every Jewish male or female, who is prepared and trained to fulfill the obligation of national defense." Most served as medics, communications specialists, and weaponeers. During WWII approximately 4,000 females volunteered for service in the British assisting forces. One of them, Alice Hatzor-Hirsch, was about 16 when she joined the Hagana. In 1942, she joined the British army
as a driver. "We were more connected than the others," she recalled years later. "A girl becoming a driver in the British army was considered the height of boldness at the time."
In Tel-Aviv of the 1940's, a battalion was established in which women filled positions in security, weapons transport, and manned anti-aircraft posts. In the winter of 1948, during the Israeli war of independence, women joined the combat soldiers of the Palmach
, who traveled from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with their weapons concealed in their clothes. The Palmach arm (thirty percent of which were females) trained nine female platoon commanders, and other female squad commanders.
Women served in many positions including nurses, signal operators, drivers, clerks, cooks and more. The Women's Corps, under which all women served, was responsible for taking care of women soldiers' needs and for their training and integration into different IDF units. The Women's Corps also sent young women soldiers to be teachers in developing areas and immigrant neighborhoods of Israel.
Yael Rom
, the first female pilot trained by the Israeli Air Force, earned her wings in 1951.
Hava Inbar, a lawyer, was appointed the judge of the military court in Haifa in September of 1969, thus becoming the first female military judge in the world. "I do not know if I want to be a military judge my whole life," she said in an interview, "but I am glad that I was appointed; it proves that the IDF leaves almost all doors open for its female soldiers."
During the Yom Kippur War
, due to a growing need for ground forces, women were needed in roles in the field. According to Rina Bar-Tal, chair of the Israel Women's Network, roles for women beyond technical and secretarial support only started to open up in the late 1970s and early '80s, because of manpower shortages. Since then, a few women have earned ranks higher than colonel. In 1986, Amira Dotan
, then head of the Women's Corps, became the first female brigadier-general.
, a former IAF commander, told Miller that she'd be better off staying home and darning socks, the court eventually ruled in 1996 that the
IAF could not exclude qualified women from pilot training. Even though Miller would not pass the exams, the ruling was a watershed, opening doors for women in new IDF roles. Female legislators took advantage of the momentum to draft a bill allowing women to volunteer for any position, if they could qualify.
In 2000, the Equality amendment to the Military Service law stated that "The right of women to serve in any role in the IDF is equal to the right of men." The amendment that female lawmakers had drafted granted equal opportunities to women found physically and personally suitable for a job. The question of who and what was "suitable" was left to the discretion of military leaders on a case-by-case basis. Women did start to enter combat support and light combat roles in a few areas, including the Artillery Corps, infantry units and armored divisions. A few platoons named Karakal
were formed for men and women to serve together in light infantry. By 2000 Karakal became a full-fledged battalion
. Many women would also join the Border Police.
The Women's Corps was dismantled in 2000, so that female soldiers for the first time would fall under the authority of individual units based on jobs and not on gender. They would wear the insignia of their units instead of the insignia of the Women's Corps. The position of Adviser to the Chief of General Staff on Women's Affairs was created.
The first female jet fighter pilot, Roni Zuckerman
, received her wings in 2001. By 2006, the first female pilots and navigators graduated from the IAF training course, and several hundred women entered combat units, primarily in support roles, like intelligence gatherers, instructors, social workers, medics and engineers. When the Second Lebanon War broke out, it was the first time since 1948 that women were in field operations alongside men. Airborne helicopter engineer Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Keren Tendler was the first female IDF combat soldier to be killed in action.
In November 2007 the Air Force appointed its first woman deputy squadron commander.
On 23 June 2011, Orna Barbivai
became the first female Major-General
in the IDF upon her promotion to the role of commander of the Manpower Directorate. She is the second woman to serve on the General Staff.
Women who arrive in Israel at age 17 and over are generally exempt from army service, but may serve on a voluntary basis. Also, women (who are not fighters) are not generally called up for reserve duty if they are married or if they are beyond age 24.
A combat option for women is the Caracal Battalion
, which is a highly operational force that is made up of 70 percent female soldiers. The unit undergoes training like any combat infantry. Elinor Joseph
, who has served with the Caracal Battalion, is the first Arab
woman ever to serve in a combat role in the Israeli army.
, appointed a committee to define women's service in the IDF in the next decade, with the objective of increasing equal opportunities in women's service in the IDF. The committee, headed by Maj. Gen. (res.) Yehuda Segev, submitted its report to Stern in September 2007.
In September 2008, the 100-page report was presented to the IDF General Staff. Rav Aluf Gabi Ashkenazi
, then-Chief of Staff, voiced support for the committee's vision:
In 2007, 12 percent of all army jobs were completely closed to women. The report partially attributed it to the shorter length of service, as a barrier to putting women in the most demanding and important jobs. Hence postings are "to a large extent" determined by gender rather than a soldier's talents and abilities. Instead, the length of service "should depend solely on the job, rather than on one's gender."
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. It said the initial screening and assignment process should be unified so that men and women are part of the same system and receive their assignments based on the same criteria, including for acceptance into combat units. The panel proposed implementing this change gradually over the course of a decade.
If applied in full, the committee said, the proposal would "strengthen the IDF" by enabling "optimal utilization of the entirety of the human capital Israeli society places at its disposal. ... This is the right way to ensure that the IDF, as the people's army, creates a direct connection between equality of obligation and equality of opportunity for women."
In contrast, the current model, "in which the number of women who aren't drafted is rising at a worrying pace from year to year, is de facto turning women's service into voluntary service, in a manner that threatens the [army's] entire manpower structure." Without significant action, it said, the "proportion of women enlisting each year would soon fall from 55 percent to below 50 percent, at which point the army would have no choice but to make service for women completely voluntary."
's representative on the committee, Lt. Col. Eyal Krim, refused to sign off on some of the recommendations, particularly those relating to putting women on the front lines. Another member, Lt. Col. (res. ) Yalon Farhi, later said the committee had ignored information it received about the downsides of sending women into combat. Stern later appointed another panel to review this issue, and it upheld the Segev Committee's conclusions.
reported that the IDF has effectively frozen implementation of the committee's recommendations. It reported that although the army has publicly announced its support for them, in practice it has done very little to implement them in the four years since the report was written. The drive to expand service options for women has largely been replaced with a rearguard action to keep existing gains from being lost, in the face of both increased pressure from the religious establishment for greater separation of the sexes in the army and a rise in the number of women claiming a religious exemption from service, it reported.
Haaretz also reported that in practice, the religious establishment's opposition has prevented the report's implementation. In addition, while former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi voiced support for the report in principle, he did little to put it into practice. At a meeting of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women in July 2009, Stern's successor, Avi Zamir, insisted that progress was being made. But other Personnel Directorate officers noted that changing the length of service would require legislation, and Ashkenazi didn't think it was "the right moment." A Segev Committee member said that aside from the rabbis, many senior officers - including current Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and his former rival for the post, Yoav Galant
, also "fiercely opposed integrating women into assault units."
A senior Personnel Directorate officer rejected the claim that "nothing has been done." He said that "progress has been made, but we've only come partway". The army opposes using women as combat troops in the infantry and tank corps, as too few of them can meet the physical requirements "like marching 90 kilometers while carrying a heavy load", he added. He also said that women should be integrated "according to the IDF's operational needs". He admitted that the army has failed to reduce the number of women receiving exemptions, but said that it required legislation that the Knesset has not passed so far. As for equalizing service lengths, he said, that would mean shortening service for men, which the army does not see as feasible before 2016.
Woman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
soldiers who serve in the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
. Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
is the only country in the world with a mandatory military service requirement
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
for women. Women have taken part in Israel’s military before and since the founding of the state in 1948, with women currently comprising 34% of all IDF soldiers, fulfilling various roles within the Ground
GOC Army Headquarters
The Israeli GOC Army headquarters , known unofficially as Mazi, is a multi-corps command headquarters created in 1998, which amalgamates the ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces...
, Navy and Air
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
Forces. The 2000 Equality amendment to the Military Service law states that "The right of women to serve in any role in the IDF is equal to the right of men." Currently, 88% of all roles in the IDF are open to female candidates, while women can be found in 69% of all positions.
Before the State of Israel
Before the establishment of the state, women served in combat roles in the militias that would become the Israel Defense Forces. The rate of women who took part in combat organizations stood at 20%. At the years before the establishment of the IDF, military service for women existed in the lines of the ShomerHashomer
Hashomer was a Jewish defense organization in Palestine founded out of Bar-Giora in April 1909. It ceased to operate after the founding of the Haganah in 1920. The purpose of Hashomer was to provide guard services for Jewish settlements in the Yishuv, freeing Jewish communities from dependence...
and Hagana organizations. The Hagana stated in its law that its lines were open to: "Every Jewish male or female, who is prepared and trained to fulfill the obligation of national defense." Most served as medics, communications specialists, and weaponeers. During WWII approximately 4,000 females volunteered for service in the British assisting forces. One of them, Alice Hatzor-Hirsch, was about 16 when she joined the Hagana. In 1942, she joined the British army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
as a driver. "We were more connected than the others," she recalled years later. "A girl becoming a driver in the British army was considered the height of boldness at the time."
In Tel-Aviv of the 1940's, a battalion was established in which women filled positions in security, weapons transport, and manned anti-aircraft posts. In the winter of 1948, during the Israeli war of independence, women joined the combat soldiers of the Palmach
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
, who traveled from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with their weapons concealed in their clothes. The Palmach arm (thirty percent of which were females) trained nine female platoon commanders, and other female squad commanders.
Israeli War of Independence
Less than two weeks after the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion officially set up the IDF as the country's army. On 18 August 1948, mandatory conscription for single and married women without children (born between the years 1920-1930) began.Women served in many positions including nurses, signal operators, drivers, clerks, cooks and more. The Women's Corps, under which all women served, was responsible for taking care of women soldiers' needs and for their training and integration into different IDF units. The Women's Corps also sent young women soldiers to be teachers in developing areas and immigrant neighborhoods of Israel.
Since 1948
Apart from during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when manpower shortages saw many IDF Women taking active part in land battles, women were historically barred from battle in the IDF, serving in a variety of technical and administrative support roles. IDF commanders have historically considered the practice of assigning women to combatant duties to be immoral due to the heightened danger of sexual assault that female soldiers would face if captured by the enemy. Soon after the establishment of the IDF, the removal of all women from front-line positions was decreed. Decisive for this decision was the very real possibility of falling into enemy hands as prisoners of war. It was fair and equitable, it was argued, to demand from women equal sacrifice and risk; but the risk for women prisoners of rape and sexual molestation was infinitely greater than the same risk for men. A majority of women serving in the IDF then were secretaries. The rest served primarily as instructors, nurses, clerks and telephone operators. A few women flew transport missions in the 1950s and a few women were accepted into flight training in the 1970s, but did not complete the program before it was closed to women.Yael Rom
Yael Rom
Yael Rom , born Yael Finkelstein, was one of the first female pilots of the Israeli Air Force and the first trained and certified by the force...
, the first female pilot trained by the Israeli Air Force, earned her wings in 1951.
Hava Inbar, a lawyer, was appointed the judge of the military court in Haifa in September of 1969, thus becoming the first female military judge in the world. "I do not know if I want to be a military judge my whole life," she said in an interview, "but I am glad that I was appointed; it proves that the IDF leaves almost all doors open for its female soldiers."
During the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, due to a growing need for ground forces, women were needed in roles in the field. According to Rina Bar-Tal, chair of the Israel Women's Network, roles for women beyond technical and secretarial support only started to open up in the late 1970s and early '80s, because of manpower shortages. Since then, a few women have earned ranks higher than colonel. In 1986, Amira Dotan
Amira Dotan
Amira Dotan is an Israeli military figure and a former member of Knesset for Kadima.-Biography:Dotan served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1965 to 1988, ending her career as the Head of the Women's Corps, with the rank of Brigadier General. Attaining it in 1986, she became the first woman in...
, then head of the Women's Corps, became the first female brigadier-general.
Gender equality
Civilian pilot and aeronautical engineer Alice Miller successfully petitioned the High Court of Justice to take the Israeli Air Force pilot training exams, after being rejected on grounds of gender. Though president Ezer WeizmanEzer Weizman
' was the seventh President of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air Force and Minister of Defense.-Biography:...
, a former IAF commander, told Miller that she'd be better off staying home and darning socks, the court eventually ruled in 1996 that the
IAF could not exclude qualified women from pilot training. Even though Miller would not pass the exams, the ruling was a watershed, opening doors for women in new IDF roles. Female legislators took advantage of the momentum to draft a bill allowing women to volunteer for any position, if they could qualify.
In 2000, the Equality amendment to the Military Service law stated that "The right of women to serve in any role in the IDF is equal to the right of men." The amendment that female lawmakers had drafted granted equal opportunities to women found physically and personally suitable for a job. The question of who and what was "suitable" was left to the discretion of military leaders on a case-by-case basis. Women did start to enter combat support and light combat roles in a few areas, including the Artillery Corps, infantry units and armored divisions. A few platoons named Karakal
Caracal Battalion
The Caracal Battalion is an infantry combat battalion of the Israel Defense Forces, composed of both male and female soldiers, of both Jewish and Arab descent. It is named after the Caracal, a small cat whose sexes appear the same. As of 2009, approximately 70% of the battalion was female...
were formed for men and women to serve together in light infantry. By 2000 Karakal became a full-fledged battalion
Caracal Battalion
The Caracal Battalion is an infantry combat battalion of the Israel Defense Forces, composed of both male and female soldiers, of both Jewish and Arab descent. It is named after the Caracal, a small cat whose sexes appear the same. As of 2009, approximately 70% of the battalion was female...
. Many women would also join the Border Police.
The Women's Corps was dismantled in 2000, so that female soldiers for the first time would fall under the authority of individual units based on jobs and not on gender. They would wear the insignia of their units instead of the insignia of the Women's Corps. The position of Adviser to the Chief of General Staff on Women's Affairs was created.
The first female jet fighter pilot, Roni Zuckerman
Roni Zuckerman
The first female jet fighter pilot for the Israeli Air Force, Roni Zuckerman, received her wings in 2001. Zuckerman is the granddaughter of Zivia Lubetkin and Icchak Cukierman whose nom de guerre was "Antek". Her grandparents were among the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II...
, received her wings in 2001. By 2006, the first female pilots and navigators graduated from the IAF training course, and several hundred women entered combat units, primarily in support roles, like intelligence gatherers, instructors, social workers, medics and engineers. When the Second Lebanon War broke out, it was the first time since 1948 that women were in field operations alongside men. Airborne helicopter engineer Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Keren Tendler was the first female IDF combat soldier to be killed in action.
In November 2007 the Air Force appointed its first woman deputy squadron commander.
On 23 June 2011, Orna Barbivai
Orna Barbivai
Aluf Orna Barbivai is a general in the Israel Defense Forces and the current head of its Manpower Directorate. She was the first woman to be made Aluf, the IDF's second highest rank.-Personal History and Military Service:...
became the first female Major-General
Aluf
Aluf is the term used for General and Admiral in the Israel Defense Forces . In addition to the Aluf rank itself, there are four other ranks which are derivatives of the word...
in the IDF upon her promotion to the role of commander of the Manpower Directorate. She is the second woman to serve on the General Staff.
Service
Mandatory service for women in the IDF is 24 months, apart from roles specified in law which require a service length of 36 months. Women may be exempted from military service for reasons of religious conscience, marriage, pregnancy or motherhood. A woman may receive an exemption on religious grounds under the following conditions:- She has declared that for reasons of conscience, or a religious way of life, she is prevented from doing military service and has proven this to the satisfaction of the exemption committee.
- She keeps the laws of KashrutKashrutKashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
at home and outside. - She does not travel on ShabbatShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
.
Women who arrive in Israel at age 17 and over are generally exempt from army service, but may serve on a voluntary basis. Also, women (who are not fighters) are not generally called up for reserve duty if they are married or if they are beyond age 24.
Combat roles
Clause 16A of the military service law requires that female combat soldiers serve 3 years of mandatory service, and continue in reserves service up to age 38, even if they become mothers. These are essentially identical to the terms of service for male combat soldiers. Each year, 1,500 female combat soldiers are drafted into the IDF.A combat option for women is the Caracal Battalion
Caracal Battalion
The Caracal Battalion is an infantry combat battalion of the Israel Defense Forces, composed of both male and female soldiers, of both Jewish and Arab descent. It is named after the Caracal, a small cat whose sexes appear the same. As of 2009, approximately 70% of the battalion was female...
, which is a highly operational force that is made up of 70 percent female soldiers. The unit undergoes training like any combat infantry. Elinor Joseph
Elinor Joseph
Elinor Joseph is an Israeli soldier who has served with the Caracal Battalion of the Israel Defense Forces since 2010. She is the first Arab woman ever to serve in a combat role in the Israeli army.-Background:...
, who has served with the Caracal Battalion, is the first Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
woman ever to serve in a combat role in the Israeli army.
2007 Segev Committee
In 2007, then Head of Manpower Directorate, Aluf (Maj. Gen.) Elazar SternElazar Stern
Elazar Stern is a former general in the Israel Defense Forces and former head of the Israeli Human Resources Directorate. Born in Tel Aviv, Stern attended Bar Ilan University, where he received a B.A. in Economics and Land of Israel Studies. He also received a Master's degree in Business...
, appointed a committee to define women's service in the IDF in the next decade, with the objective of increasing equal opportunities in women's service in the IDF. The committee, headed by Maj. Gen. (res.) Yehuda Segev, submitted its report to Stern in September 2007.
In September 2008, the 100-page report was presented to the IDF General Staff. Rav Aluf Gabi Ashkenazi
Gabi Ashkenazi
Gavriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi , was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces from 2007 to 2011.- Background and early life :...
, then-Chief of Staff, voiced support for the committee's vision:
"The IDF, as a leading organization in Israeli society, designates the service of men and women to a fulfilling and respectful service based upon equal opportunities in the service of [the] IDF and the State of Israel."
Service length
The committee called for the annulment of the model that has been in place since the 1950s, under which a soldier's length of service and service options is largely determined by gender. "This is an archaic model that causes under-utilization of the resources ... of half of Israeli society, and closes off many opportunities, both during service and for integrating into society after service," the report said.In 2007, 12 percent of all army jobs were completely closed to women. The report partially attributed it to the shorter length of service, as a barrier to putting women in the most demanding and important jobs. Hence postings are "to a large extent" determined by gender rather than a soldier's talents and abilities. Instead, the length of service "should depend solely on the job, rather than on one's gender."
Exemptions
The report called for changing the law to make it harder for women to get an exemption from mandatory service, and to fight the phenomenon of women falsely claiming exemptions on religious grounds. But it proposed doing this only after the service options open to women had been expanded. It also said the criteria for exemptions from service should be the same for both men and women.Affirmative action and integration
The panel recommended mandatory quotas for promoting women, with the goal of giving women a "significant presence" in the army's "senior decision-making ranks." In addition, it called for creating an effective, well-funded system to ensure proper working environments for both men and women, and for drafting a "gender code" that would lay down explicit rules for interaction between the sexes. "There should be no jobs or units categorically closed to either women or men," it said. "Service in all units, postings and missions would be joint, subject to the rules of appropriate integration."Conclusion
The committee proposed opening all jobs to women aside from a handful to be determined by a special committee, whose decisions would require the approval of the Chief of Staff, the Defense Minister and the KnessetKnesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. It said the initial screening and assignment process should be unified so that men and women are part of the same system and receive their assignments based on the same criteria, including for acceptance into combat units. The panel proposed implementing this change gradually over the course of a decade.
If applied in full, the committee said, the proposal would "strengthen the IDF" by enabling "optimal utilization of the entirety of the human capital Israeli society places at its disposal. ... This is the right way to ensure that the IDF, as the people's army, creates a direct connection between equality of obligation and equality of opportunity for women."
In contrast, the current model, "in which the number of women who aren't drafted is rising at a worrying pace from year to year, is de facto turning women's service into voluntary service, in a manner that threatens the [army's] entire manpower structure." Without significant action, it said, the "proportion of women enlisting each year would soon fall from 55 percent to below 50 percent, at which point the army would have no choice but to make service for women completely voluntary."
Internal criticism
The IDF RabbinateMilitary Rabbinate
The Military Rabbinate is a corps in the Israel Defense Forces that provides religious services to soldiers, primarily to Jews but also including non-Jews, and makes decisions on issues of religion and military affairs. The Military Rabbinate is headed by the Chief Military Rabbi, who is ranked a...
's representative on the committee, Lt. Col. Eyal Krim, refused to sign off on some of the recommendations, particularly those relating to putting women on the front lines. Another member, Lt. Col. (res. ) Yalon Farhi, later said the committee had ignored information it received about the downsides of sending women into combat. Stern later appointed another panel to review this issue, and it upheld the Segev Committee's conclusions.
Implementation
On 30 November 2011, HaaretzHaaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
reported that the IDF has effectively frozen implementation of the committee's recommendations. It reported that although the army has publicly announced its support for them, in practice it has done very little to implement them in the four years since the report was written. The drive to expand service options for women has largely been replaced with a rearguard action to keep existing gains from being lost, in the face of both increased pressure from the religious establishment for greater separation of the sexes in the army and a rise in the number of women claiming a religious exemption from service, it reported.
Haaretz also reported that in practice, the religious establishment's opposition has prevented the report's implementation. In addition, while former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi voiced support for the report in principle, he did little to put it into practice. At a meeting of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women in July 2009, Stern's successor, Avi Zamir, insisted that progress was being made. But other Personnel Directorate officers noted that changing the length of service would require legislation, and Ashkenazi didn't think it was "the right moment." A Segev Committee member said that aside from the rabbis, many senior officers - including current Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and his former rival for the post, Yoav Galant
Yoav Galant
Aluf Yoav Galant is a general in the Israel Defense Forces and a former commander of the Southern Command.Galant was initially chosen in to succeed Gabi Ashkenazi as the next Chief of General Staff in 2011 by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and approved by the Israeli government However, his...
, also "fiercely opposed integrating women into assault units."
A senior Personnel Directorate officer rejected the claim that "nothing has been done." He said that "progress has been made, but we've only come partway". The army opposes using women as combat troops in the infantry and tank corps, as too few of them can meet the physical requirements "like marching 90 kilometers while carrying a heavy load", he added. He also said that women should be integrated "according to the IDF's operational needs". He admitted that the army has failed to reduce the number of women receiving exemptions, but said that it required legislation that the Knesset has not passed so far. As for equalizing service lengths, he said, that would mean shortening service for men, which the army does not see as feasible before 2016.