IDF Opens Advanced Combat Units To Female Soldiers, Angering Religious Zionist Rabbis

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The IDF announced Tuesday that certain advanced combat units will be opened to women for the first time, although not all elite units will be available to them. The announcement comes as a response to a petition by female soldiers to the Supreme Court requesting equal opportunities in frontline units.

“The Israel Defense Forces is the people’s army, which operates first and foremost professionally and in accordance with the operational requirements on the battlefield, for the realization of its mission and operational missions in defending the State of Israel, its citizens and its borders,” the IDF said in a statement.

Despite the need for operational superiority requiring the toughest combat soldiers, an IDF committee concluded after a two year study that women could try out for some of the advanced combat units, including the prestigious Yahalam and 669 search and rescue units, provided they had the requisite factors.

The committee, comprised of six men and two women, studied a number of factors, including physiological and medical considerations, human-resources planning, how the women would try out for the units, how it would affect the military’s command structure going forward, how it would affect reserve service and how to have co-ed service while maintaining propriety.

The committee also analyzed the physiological characteristics of women and their ability to cope with intense physical activity like those required during combat in war and in combat events during prolonged operational missions.

In order not to compromise key operational requirements of combat units and due to the need to carry heavy loads of more than 40 kilograms for long distances during war, the Medical Corps formulated basic threshold physical requirements for women who want to join combat units such as Unit 669 or infantry units.

For example, women who want to serve in elite units, such as Unit 669, need to weigh at least 78 kg. and be at least 1.66 meters tall. Those who want to join combat infantry units must weigh at least 67 kg. and be at least 1.64 m. tall. Those who want to join the Armored Corps must weigh at least 60 kg. and be at least 1.65 m. tall.

Following the recommendations of the committee, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi ordered that as long as a woman fits the requirements set out by the team, along with the operational requirements of the role, the position will be open to them.

The IDF officially announced two weeks ago that the IAF’s elite 669 Search and Rescue unit will be open to women, and on Tuesday it said women will also be able to serve in the Yahalom Combat Engineering Unit and mobile deployment units in the Infantry Corps.

The military said it would begin pilot programs to study women serving as sappers and in other positions in the Yahalom unit of the Combat Engineering Corps and in combat-related transportation roles in the Infantry Corps.

“The IDF’s mission to protect the State of Israel and to fulfill its operational missions are the leading values in examining this significant issue,” Kohavi said. “The IDF is the people’s army, and as part of that, it allows for meaningful service to everyone. But first and foremost it is committed to making professional, operational and matter-of-fact decisions.

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“The IDF staffs its ranks on the basis of professional considerations only and in accordance with the operational need on the battlefield, while making the best possible use of men and women for positions,” Kohavi said.

The most important factor in the committee’s decision was the professional considerations of the military and that they examined physiological abilities, suitability for the components of the role and maintaining the health of the fighters, since the overall injury rate for women is higher than in men, he said.

“There is an expanding responsibility for maintaining the [soldiers’ health] out of professional and moral duty,” Kohavi said, adding that “The IDF will continue to maintain its unique character as a people’s army, which is also committed to the Joint Service Ordinance.”

“The IDF staffs its ranks on the basis of professional considerations only and in accordance with the operational need on the battlefield, while making the best possible use of men and women for positions.”

The Defense Service Law says every man and woman has the right to serve in any position in the military unless the inherent nature of the position requires otherwise.

The IDF said the committee’s recommendations “will be implemented in a professional and gradual manner.”

The Chief of Staff has come under severe criticism from rabbis in the entire Religious Zionist spectrum who are concerned that opening combat units to women effectively blocks them from religious soldiers. For example the Artillery Corps used to have a separate unit for women but they have now been streamlined into the main unit and this means that the unit has been practically closed to religious soldiers.

A meeting scheduled between Kohavi and the dissenting rabbis was cancelled Tuesday after the new IDF guidelines were published, demonstrating that the army intends to open more combat units to women without taking into account the religious soldiers, who currently make up a significant portion of the combat units, especially the infantry units which will now be open to women.