Netanyahu Visits Southern Lebanon Base, Female Artillery Soldiers Asked to Leave to Avoid Meeting Ultra-Orthodox Troops

During a visit to southern Lebanon on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz encountered a situation where female artillery soldiers were asked to leave their location to prevent interaction with ultra-Orthodox soldiers from the Hachshmonaim Brigade. The incident was reported on Wednesday by "Kan News," with a mother of one of the female soldiers stating that the women were told to move to a lower floor to avoid being seen by the ultra-Orthodox troops during Netanyahu's visit.

The female soldiers reportedly spent four hours isolated on a lower floor, barred from going upstairs to prevent accidental encounters. The IDF stated the gathering was not properly planned according to the conditions at the brigade commander's base in enemy territory and that the event would be investigated.

This episode adds to a series of reported cases highlighting gender segregation and discrimination against female soldiers in the IDF. In May, reservists from Brigade 679 protested the inclusion of a female medic in a medical evacuation team, with some soldiers refusing to participate in training or deployment. In April, a planned operation by the special engineering unit Yahalom was canceled because female soldiers were not allowed to enter a base with ultra-Orthodox soldiers.

Additionally, in May, Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, head of the "Bnei David" pre-military academy, urged students not to enlist in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, citing its mixed-gender composition as incompatible with religious requirements.

In response to these and other incidents, 257 current and former female officers sent a letter in late June to IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, Defense Minister Katz, and the Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram. They warned of an "anti-women wave" within the IDF, calling for the military and political leadership to halt what they described as foreign interference undermining the chain of command. The letter demanded an official directive affirming mixed-gender service and zero tolerance for rabbis and commanders supporting gender segregation. The Defense Ministry was also urged to reassess service arrangements with yeshivas allegedly encouraging disobedience to military authority.