Hundreds of IDF female officers on Wednesday called on Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and the defense minister to stop what they described as growing interference by religious Zionist rabbis in the assignment of women combat soldiers. The signatories include six brigadier generals and 35 officers of colonel, lieutenant colonel and equivalent ranks, and they asked for a renewed review of arrangements with yeshivas that, they said, encourage disobedience.
In their letter, signed by officers from across the political spectrum, they accused outside actors of pressuring the army and warned that yielding to such pressure would be “a security neglect and the dismantling of the people’s army from within.” They wrote that female fighters are “not a subject for debate or a problem to be blocked,” but “an operational fact” and “a strategic asset,” adding: “The apology for our presence is over.” The officers said recent rabbinical statements amount to de facto encouragement of refusal to serve and an attempt to impose a civilian agenda on the IDF at the expense of operational needs.
The officers also said senior commanders’ silence in the face of this interference harms national security and weakens commanders in the field. They demanded a formal order of the day affirming commitment to mixed service and zero tolerance for commanders who cooperate with excluding women. From the defense minister, they asked for a fresh review of service arrangements with yeshivas they said encourage harm to the chain of command.
The letter was initiated by Moran Zer Katzenstein, a former officer and current candidate in The Democrats’ primary. She said command of the IDF must remain solely in the hands of commanders, and warned that each additional day of silence means surrendering authority and abandoning the women soldiers who gave their lives to the state. She said the warning had been raised when the judicial overhaul began, arguing that the exclusion of women was a clear rabbinical agenda that would quickly spread into the army.
The move comes amid escalating tension over mixed service. About two weeks ago, hesder yeshivas announced they would stop drafting their students in protest of a pilot integrating women into the armored corps. In response, Zamir met leading rabbis from religious Zionism, said the army faces a shortage of thousands of combat troops and needs every soldier, but pledged to uphold the mixed-service order and prevent one group’s service from coming at the expense of another.
