Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, one of the founders of the Bnei David pre-military mechina in Eli, addressed the IDF’s decision to imprison 16 soldiers for heeding the directive of their Rabbanim and refusing to board an APC with a female paramedic present.

In his remarks, Rabbi Levinstein sharply criticized the IDF’s handling of the issue and the status of the Military Rabbinate.

“The IDF has decided to ‘eliminate’ the role of the Chief Military Rabbi,” Rabbi Levinstein said.  “Under the pretext of operational necessity, the IDF is forcing religious soldiers to violate halacha by entering a Namer with female paramedics.”

“For 15 years, the IDF has been deliberately creating a situation in which the overwhelming majority of paramedics will be women rather than men,” he claimed.

“This is not how you run a Jewish army! I support the Givati soldiers from the Hesder yeshivas for their courage and steadfast stand in preserving Yahadus in the IDF,” he concluded.

Fellow Hesder soldiers said that the incident was not an isolated one but part of a series of confrontations over religious issues that have escalated in recent weeks.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)