Heads of Hesder yeshivas agreed Thursday evening to send their students to Armored Corps service, after a conversation with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir in which he reportedly assured them that if the women-in-tanks pilot passes, a separate all-female company would not be deployed within maneuvering brigades but only on quieter borders. The decision appears to end a months-long standoff over the integration of women into the corps.
The Union of Hesder Yeshivas announced Thursday evening that its constituent yeshiva heads have agreed to send students to Armored Corps service next August, following a call with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. According to the report, Zamir assured the rabbis that even if the current pilot to integrate women into the Armored Corps is approved, an all-female company would be deployed only on quieter border sectors — not within maneuvering brigades.
This appears to resolve the months-long standoff that began in early June, when the Hesder yeshiva union halted Armored Corps enlistment over the planned pilot. As The Zioneer reported on June 10, the IDF had responded that the pilot would proceed per orders, with no mixed-gender tank crews permitted. On Wednesday, Zamir held a senior command discussion detailing the pilot's criteria — including company-strength all-female frameworks and a ban on mixed-gender crews — while on Thursday he called for unity amid the rabbinical threats.
The agreement thus marks a significant de-escalation for both the military and the religious-Zionist public, though the final outcome of the women-in-tanks pilot remains open pending further IDF decisions.
2 developments
- ConfirmedIDF chief details criteria for women-in-Armored Corps pilot, rules out mixed-gender tank crews
- DevelopingZamir calls for unity as rabbis threaten to bar students from tank units over mixed-gender pilot
- DevelopingHesder yeshiva heads say they have secured framework on female tank crew recruitment
- DevelopingIDF chief may reconsider ban on Hesder yeshiva students serving in armored corps
Source and signal
- Internal intake