Shikma Bresler’s First Response to the Uproar in Religious Zionism

The uproar over conscripting yeshiva students from hesder programs into the armored corps continues to reverberate widely in Israel’s political and public arenas, and has now reached leaders of the protest movement against the government. Prof. Shikma Bresler, one of the leaders of the Kaplan protests, chose today, Wednesday, to respond publicly to the decision by yeshiva heads, sharply attacking them on social media. Bresler shared reports about the move by the Religious Zionist Torah world, and wrote a few pointed words on her X account, formerly Twitter, “Refusal. Refusal.”

The background to her remarks is the dramatic decision by 12 leading hesder yeshivas to tell their students that they will not be sent to the armored corps track in the upcoming draft. The decision was made by the yeshiva heads in light of the growing integration of female combat soldiers into the IDF tank corps, a move that many rabbis in the haredi-nationalist wing of Religious Zionism say creates complex halakhic problems of modesty and does not allow students to maintain their religious way of life during operational service.

Bresler’s brief response immediately sparked a backlash online, drawing hundreds of comments from users and right-wing figures who accused her of hypocrisy. Many commentators quickly reminded the protest leader of the period before the outbreak of the war on October 7. Bresler herself has repeatedly been accused by coalition politicians and senior figures in the national camp of encouraging and legitimizing the phenomenon of reservists not reporting for duty, what was then called “refusal,” by pilots and officers in special units as part of the protest against the judicial overhaul. According to many critics at the time, the public discourse about not reporting for duty and the harm to army cohesion was a significant factor that weakened Israel’s deterrence and led Hamas, the terrorist organization, to identify an opportunity and launch its deadly surprise attack.