The heads of Israel’s religious pre-military academies declined to attend a meeting on Tuesday with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir regarding the military’s pilot program for mixed-gender armored corps service, following his decision to exclude Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, the Rosh Mechina of the Bnei Dovid Academy in Eli, from the gathering, Channel 14 reported.

According to the report, Zamir insisted that Rabbi Levinstein be removed from the list of invitees to the meeting with leaders of Dati Leumi institutions that send large numbers of students to military service.

The message was reportedly conveyed to Rabbi Levinstein through military officials, who informed him that Zamir did not want him present. The decision was said to be linked to a letter Levinstein recently sent to his students, urging them not to serve in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit due to its integration of female combat soldiers.

It should be noted that about 30 graduates of Rabbi Levinstein’s mechina in Eli have lost their lives on the battlefield since the October 7 massacre.

In response, the other Roshei Mechinos boycotted the meeting, with some saying that ostracizing a Rosh Mechina whose graduates suffered heavy losses in the recent war, and which is considered one of the flagship institutions of Religious Zionism, sends a troubling message and should not be accepted.

Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich slammed Zamir for his decision. “We support the heroes’ mechina in Eli,” Smotrich told Channel 14. “The academy, which leads in rates of enlistment to combat units and command positions and has lost about 30 of its graduates in the current war alone, is under attack from Yair Golan. It is unfortunate that Zamir has chosen to join this campaign and harm the academy, its leadership, and its thousands of graduates and students who are at the forefront of Israel’s security, Zionist, and social efforts.”

Smotrich added, “Boycotting the academy’s leaders because of their clear value-based position raises a deeply troubling feeling. I call on Zamir to reverse this decision and listen to the important voices of the academy’s leaders, which come from a pained heart and out of genuine concern for the resilience of the IDF and the security of Israel.”

During the meeting with the Hesder Rabbanim, Zamir reiterated his intention to continue integrating women into combat and key military positions.

“One of the cornerstones of integrating a wide range of populations into military service is the implementation of the Joint Service Order, which enables men and women to serve alongside one another—not at one another’s expense—while preserving the dignity of all service members,” he said.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)