JERUSALEM (VINnews) — After religious Zionist hesder yeshivas and higher rabbinic yeshivas called on their students not to serve in combat units together with female soldiers, it is now the turn of the pre-military preparatory academies in the religious Zionist sector.

As reported last week on Channel 14,  more than thirty heads of hesder yeshivas signed a letter calling on their students not to serve in the Armored Corps due to the IDF’s decision to station female combat soldiers in maneuvering units.

Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, one of the rabbis of the Bnei David preparatory academy, also signed, arguing that the IDF prefers progressive values over victory-oriented values. He therefore called on his students to enlist in the Shayetet and Sayeret units, but not in Sayeret Matkal, which recently integrated female combat soldiers into the unit.

Now, leaders of the pre-military academies in the religious Zionist sector are also joining, publishing a letter calling on students to serve in units where there is no mixing between male and female soldiers. Signatories include rabbis such as Rabbi Moshe Hagar of the Yatir Mechina, Rabbi Roi Peretz of the Atzmona Mechina, (the son of the former Chief Military Rabbi), Rabbi Ze’ev Sharon, and other rabbis.

Colonel (res.) Rabbi Moshe Hagar, spoke with Yinon Magal and Ben Caspit on 103FM about the announcement by 19 heads of pre-military academies that they will not send students to mixed-gender service roles:

According to him: “I think we need to win the war. Bringing in women disrupts our ability to win. We need to win. The integration of women into combat units disrupts the fighters and their concentration. I’m saying this from experience: a female platoon commander disrupted me and harmed my performance.”

The IDF has been pushed by the High Court of Justice to integrate female combat soldiers into maneuvering units and to dismantle the “joint service order,” which in the view of religious Zionist rabbis previously provided a partial framework allowing religious soldiers to maintain halachic observance. However, with repeated petitions to integrate female soldiers into all maneuvering units, from armored corps to Sayeret Matkal, the High Court and the IDF have, according to this view, managed to unite all streams within religious Zionism, from “hardal” yeshivas to religious kibbutz rabbis, in protest over what they see as ideological coercion and a disruption of values affecting religious soldiers.

The IDF spokesperson responded: “The religious Zionist public is important and dear to the IDF. As has already been clarified, the IDF operates and will continue to operate according to the joint service order regarding the integration of women in combat units. At present, the army needs every combat soldier and soldier, and their placement will be made according to operational needs without one population coming at the expense of another.”