After IDF Clarification, Hesder Yeshivas Halt Student Enlistment Over Women’s Integration in Armor Corps

In light of the IDF’s clarification that the High Court of Justice did not order the enlistment of women combat soldiers into the Armor Corps, but only the conduct of a pilot program on the issue, and against the backdrop of the public and legal debate over women’s integration into combat roles, additional hesder yeshivas announced today, Thursday, that they are stopping the enlistment of their students.

According to the IDF statement issued two days ago, the army stressed that the pilot is intended only to examine the possibility at an initial stage, and that this is an experiment that does not require a decision on full integration. “After about two and a half years of multi-front fighting and the expansion of the IDF’s missions, the IDF needs every male and female combat soldier,” and the army sees importance in integrating all populations while preserving different needs, without harming one population at the expense of another. Women in Tank photo, Hila Kobo, January 2017, Walla system, without the IDF. The IDF says the pilot will be carried out in accordance with the joint service order and while meeting operational and professional standards, and that “among all the options being examined, there is no alternative in which future mixed service of men and women will take place in the same framework.” It was also reported that the pilot has not yet been presented to the chief of staff and is expected to come up for discussion soon. At the same time, the IDF says it is in ongoing contact with the heads of hesder yeshivas and representatives of the religious-Zionist public on the issue.

Against this backdrop, the public debate over the High Court ruling on integrating women into the Armor Corps continues to stir controversy. Rabbi Tamir Granot, head of the “Orot Shaul” hesder yeshiva, criticized the decision and argued that without the High Court’s intervention, the army would not have advanced the pilots. According to him, this is a legal compulsion that could affect the character of the IDF as a people’s army.