A visit by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to IDF forces in southern Lebanon has sparked controversy following claims that several female soldiers were instructed to leave a building during the visit in order to accommodate members of the Chashmonaim Brigade, the military’s chareidi combat unit.

The allegation was first reported by Kan 11, citing the mother of one of the artillery soldiers stationed at the location. According to her account, commanders asked four female soldiers to relocate to another part of the building while Netanyahu met with soldiers from the Chashmonaim Brigade.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisroel Katz visited commanders and troops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. As part of the visit, the prime minister posed for photographs with soldiers from the Chashmonaim Brigade, who had arrived from a separate military position in the area.

According to the report, soldiers had spent hours cleaning the building and reinforcing it ahead of the high-profile visit. The mother of one of the female artillery soldiers claimed that, shortly before Netanyahu’s arrival, the four women were instructed to leave the main area of the building.

“When Bibi was supposed to arrive to meet the Chashmonaim at the site that they had worked on, the girls from the artillery battery were told that the Chashmonaim had been promised they wouldn’t see any girls there, so they had to go to another house and stay downstairs,” she was quoted as saying.

She further alleged that the female soldiers remained there for approximately four hours.

“For four hours, only the girls from the battery sat downstairs and were not allowed to go upstairs so that the Chashmonaim wouldn’t accidentally encounter them. Of course, the staff’s response was that they were doing it out of respect for them,” she said.

Opposition politicians quickly seized on the report to criticize both Netanyahu and the government’s relationship with the chareidi community.

Democrats Party chairman Yair Golan wrote, “Let every Hebrew mother know that the prime minister will hide her daughter who serves in combat in order to be photographed with chareidi soldiers. This is contempt for the women who serve and risk their lives every day, every hour. Our female combat soldiers are an inseparable part of Israel’s security and of the State of Israel, and we should be proud of them.”

In response, the IDF said the incident stemmed from poor logistical planning rather than official policy.

“The gathering was not properly planned in light of the conditions at the brigade command house in enemy territory. The incident will be investigated,” the military said in a statement.