Rabbi Aviad Gadot, the director of the Torat Lechima organization, addressed the IDF’s decision to jail 16 soldiers for refusing to enter an APC with a female paramedic, analyzing what he described as the roots of the incident and the dynamics within the military.

Speaking in an interview with Kol Chai, Rabbi Gadot said: “This incident is not a confrontation between the soldiers and the military as a whole, but with senior commanders who are imposing a progressive agenda and a corrupt cultural foundation.”

“The soldiers on the ground—the overwhelming majority and backbone of the fighting force—want a Jewish army and basic standards of kedushas hamachaneh. The religious soldier is treated as though he has special needs and is asking for something extraordinary, when in fact this is a basic values-based demand from a community that pays an extraordinarily heavy price in combat. This struggle is Am Yisrael’s struggle over the identity of its army.”

Rabbi Gadot sharply criticized the composition of the IDF’s senior command and warned about the effects of the Joint Service Order.

“We warned in advance about the appointments at the top of the military. These are generals whose entire outlook is political and progressive, who promote the mixing of men and women and undermine kedushas hamachaneh. Joint service is seriously harming the military, and this madness is permeating the upper ranks. They try to portray every such incident as an ‘exception,’ but in practice they are turning the exception into the norm.”

Asked whether the military’s promises to establish dedicated frameworks tailored to the Chareidi public could be trusted, Gadot responded emphatically:

“They are lying to the Chareidi public and to all of us. During discussions in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, we demanded to see the wording of the Chareidi enlistment order, and we saw clearly that even this order subordinates itself to the Joint Service Order and the Gender Affairs Adviser. Senior commanders in the past have also admitted that these promises do not hold water. The Chareidim, in their wisdom, recognize this bluff and are not falling into the trap. The Defense Minister must intervene immediately to restore the IDF’s Jewish character and kedushas hamachaneh.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)