Heads of pre-military academies skipped a meeting with the IDF chief of staff after he excluded Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, head of the Eli preparatory academy, from the guest list. The meeting was meant to bring together heads of religious Zionist yeshivas and academies to discuss a pilot program for joint service in armor units, but the boycott was revealed by Channel 14.
According to the report, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir insisted that Levinstein not attend the meeting, which was scheduled with leaders of institutions that send their students into the army. Military sources told Levinstein that Zamir did not want him present, following a letter the rabbi had sent to his students urging them not to serve in Sayeret Matkal because women are integrated in the unit.
The pre-military academy heads viewed Levinstein’s exclusion as a sign of disrespect toward their path and chose not to appear, even though they had been invited. Some said that barring the head of an academy whose graduates have fallen in the recent war, and which is considered one of religious Zionism’s flagship institutions, was a warning sign they could not accept.
At the meeting, Zamir said he intends to continue expanding the integration of women into combat roles. He said that a core principle of broadening service integration is implementing the joint-service order, which allows different groups to serve side by side with mutual respect. He added that the IDF will keep reinforcing that order and other routine regulations, especially during a long war, and that opening new roles and formations for women will proceed in full alignment with the order in routine, emergencies and war, according to operational needs and professional standards, with no compromises.
