IDF chief says women will not serve with men in tank crews

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir clarified on Tuesday, after the recent controversy, that men and women will not be integrated together in tank teams, neither during training nor in operational assignments. His comments came during a planning discussion on a pilot program to examine whether women can be integrated into the maneuvering armored corps.

The meeting was attended by senior military officials, including Ground Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Nadav Lotan, Personnel Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Dado Bar-Kalifa, Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the chief military rabbi, Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, and the chief of staff’s adviser on gender affairs, Brig. Gen. Rozital Aviv, along with other senior officers.

Zamir said the IDF needs both male and female combatants because of the many threats and fronts it faces, and stressed that the army sees great importance in integrating female combat soldiers. He said success in the pilot will be judged by two main standards, first, meeting the required tank-fighter operational qualifications “without compromise,” and second, building a functional combat framework that allows full, professional training and later operational capability for routine and combat missions.

He also emphasized the need to protect the women’s physical health during training, saying that unusually high injury rates seen in previous pilots are unacceptable and show the process must be properly adapted without lowering operational standards. If the experiment succeeds, women will be integrated only in a dedicated framework, at least at company size, and combat under a task-force structure will require adjustments under the joint-service order. Zamir said the review process will begin ahead of the November draft, according to the criteria presented, and praised the women joining IDF combat units for their determination, professionalism and high motivation.