IDF chief to rabbis: We’re short thousands of troops, need female combat soldiers

In meeting with religious Zionist leaders angry over women’s inclusion in tank crews, Zamir says integration is ‘of tremendous operational importance’

In a meeting with religious Zionist rabbis, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir stressed the military’s need for both male and female combat soldiers, calling the integration of women into such roles a matter “of tremendous operational importance.”

The Tuesday meeting came after the rabbis threatened to stop sending their students to serve in tank units due to a pilot program integrating women into the Armored Corps. Their concern is that the students, who observe religious strictures around modesty, would serve too closely with female recruits.

In a statement on Wednesday, the IDF said Zamir told the rabbis that the military “is still short thousands of combat troops and needs every male and female soldier in order to fulfill its missions and consolidate the campaign’s achievements.”

Zamir’s remarks came following repeated warnings by the IDF that it is facing an urgent manpower shortage after years of fighting wars on several fronts. The IDF has said it needs 12,000 additional recruits.

The debate surrounding those needs generally focuses on the blanket exemption from military service long given to yeshiva students — which itself will be the focus of a mass ultra-Orthodox protest due to take place on Wednesday. But the threats from the religious Zionist rabbis could present an added challenge for the IDF.

Facing those threats, Zamir told the rabbis that the military would continue to expand the integration of women into “key positions and combat roles” in the military, which the IDF sees as a matter of “tremendous operational importance,” according to the military.

He added that the opening of additional units and positions to women would be conducted in “full accordance” with the military’s protocols on men and women serving together, and will be carried out “while meeting professional standards, without compromise.”

Zamir has previously stressed, in response to the rabbis’ concerns, that men and women will not serve in the same tanks during training or operational activity.

The IDF has said that if the pilot program succeeds, “the integration of women will be carried out within a dedicated framework” that will see women-only companies. An Armored Corps company is normally composed of 11 tanks. Women and men would likely end up serving together at the battalion and brigade levels in combat. The military said that in those cases, “adjustments would be required” in accordance with the army’s existing protocols on men and women serving together.

The yeshivas led by the religious Zionist rabbis are all part of the Hesder program, which allows observant young men to combine several years of Torah studies with a shortened military service, currently set at 17 months. Some 1,500 young men are drafted through the program every year.

Many members of the religious Zionist community currently enlist in the Armored Corps — as well as in the Artillery Corps and various infantry brigades — as part of the Hesder program.

In the meeting with Zamir, the military said, the rabbis “clarified that they would continue to educate their students toward meaningful military service as required.” They also described “the challenges faced by observant soldiers during their military service and raised the need for every observant soldier to be able to serve in the IDF in accordance with his beliefs and values.”

Women who graduate from all-girls religious high schools are automatically eligible for an exemption from army service on religious grounds, although some still choose to serve.

Channel 12 reported Wednesday that more than 250 female reserve officers have signed a letter warning of what they described as a growing effort to exclude women from combat service and undermine the IDF’s chain of command.

The letter, signed by 257 officers including six brigadier generals, seven colonels and 28 lieutenant colonels, was sent to Zamir, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram.

The officers claim that “external pressure” has interfered in military operational decisions and noted the recent calls by rabbis against mixed-gender service.

“Yielding to external pressure represents negligence on [Israeli] security and the dismantling of the people’s army from within,” the officers wrote. “We demand a rejection of the rabbis’ letters and the exclusion of women from the military, and we warn of harm to state security. Stop this madness immediately.”