The IDF pilot program to integrate women into tank units has been transferred to the Border Defense Corps following the protests of Roshei Yeshivos Hesder and Roshei Mechinos who banned their talmidim from joining the Armored Corps.
The Armored Corps will provide professional guidance only, and the pilot program will be gender-separated, with no integration of men and women in the same tank, the same training program, or the same company.
At a meeting attended by top IDF officials on Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir stated that the pilot’s success will be measured by two central criteria, with the first being the full compliance of all qualification requirements for tank soldiers without any adjustments or leniencies, with the physiological demands for females to be the same as those required from male combat soldiers. The second is the ability to establish a combat framework that preserves operational capability to carry out combat and security missions.
Zamir noted that the previous pilot program for the integration of females highlighted the need to protect the physical health of female soldiers, stressing that the unusually high injury rates for females in past programs were unacceptable and could not serve as the basis for a permanent program.
Zamir clarified that there is currently no plan to integrate females into tank crews. If the pilot program is successful and females meet the requirements for the Armored Corps, a separate framework will be established for them.
It remains to be seen if the Dati Leumi Rabbanim will change their instructions based on the new criteria. If female soldiers serve in tank units in the future, even in separate tanks and separate companies, it will still pose issues for religious soldiers at the battalion level during combat, an issue mentioned by some Dati Lemi Rabbanim who signed the statements.
Female tank crews already exist in the Caracal Battalion of the Border Defense Corps, and serve in border patrol missions, observation, and anti-smuggling operations.
The meeting was attended by senior General Staff officials, including Ground Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Nadav Lotan, Head of the Personnel Directorate, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar-Kalifa, Military Advocate General, Maj. Gen. Itai Ofir, Chief Military Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, the Chief of Staff’s Adviser for Chareidi Affairs, Brig. Gen. Avinoam Emunah, and the Chief of Staff’s Adviser on Gender Affairs Brig. Gen. Rozital Aviv.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)