Two hundred fifty-seven current and former women officers in the IDF sent a letter on Wednesday to Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram, warning of what they called an anti-women campaign against female soldiers and combatants. They urged the military and political leadership to stop what they described as outside forces taking over the IDF, and said attacks on women in the ranks were endangering the chain of command and the army itself.
Among the signatories were six brigadier generals, seven colonels, and 28 lieutenant colonels. They said they came from across the political spectrum and argued that, even in wartime, allowing “foreign considerations” to dictate combat-force composition amounts to a security failure and an internal breakdown of the “people’s army.” They called women fighters an operational fact and strategic asset, adding, “The apology for our presence is over.”
The letter also condemned rabbis’ calls against mixed service, which the officers described as de facto refusal to serve and an attempt to impose a civilian agenda over operational needs. They demanded an official order of the day and a binding command statement supporting mixed service, along with zero tolerance for yeshiva rabbis and commanders who cooperate with the exclusion of women. They also asked Katz and Baram to review service arrangements with yeshivot that they say effectively encourage disobedience to the chain of command.
Several signatories spoke to ynet, including reserve Lt. Col. Zohar Lipkin, now deputy head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, who said she was proud of women choosing combat service and wanted discrimination to stop. Reserve Lt. Col. Matti Zuiag, now a board member at Yahav Bank, said women had proven their professionalism and necessity, especially since October 7, and demanded enforcement of the High Court ruling and the shared-service order. Gali Nesheri, a reserve fighter in Caracal and a petitioner in a women’s integration case, said repeated rabbinic letters were harming security. The initiative was led by Moren Zer Katsenstein, founder of Women Building an Alternative and a candidate in The Democrats primaries, who said command of the IDF must remain in commanders’ hands.
The backdrop includes recent rabbinic opposition to women’s service in combat, including calls not to enlist in Sayeret Matkal after the first female fighter joined the unit and a decision by some Hesder yeshiva heads to stop sending recruits to the Armored Corps. In February, nearly 1,000 Hesder students signed a rabbinic letter to Zamir opposing women in armor. The army currently has a female armored company securing the Egyptian border and is considering a pilot for women in maneuver units as well. On Tuesday, Zamir told religious-Zionist rabbis that the IDF still lacks thousands of fighters and needs “every fighter and fighter,” while stressing that expanding women’s roles will continue according to operational needs and professional standards.
