IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir convened a discussion on the pilot integrating female soldiers into the Armored Corps, responding to a letter from 25 hesder yeshiva heads who said they would refuse to send students. Zamir ruled that men and women will not serve together in the same company or in tank crews during training or operations. He set two success criteria: meeting professional combat standards without compromise, and establishing a combat framework capable of security and warfare missions.
The IDF Chief of Staff formally ruled on the parameters of a pilot to integrate female soldiers into the Armored Corps's maneuver battalions Wednesday afternoon, adding a second major statement on the issue in as many days. Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir convened the session after 25 heads of hesder yeshivas — religious institutions combining Torah study with military service — signed a letter refusing to send their students to the Armored Corps if the integration proceeds. The pilot had been reported as imminent, with earlier reports Wednesday saying the yeshiva heads had secured a framework with the IDF personnel director.
Zamir's ruling clarified several points: mixed-gender tank crews are ruled out in both training and operations; integration, if deemed successful, will take place in a dedicated all-female company-sized framework. He also stressed that female soldiers' physical health must be maintained throughout training, without unusual injury rates. The chief of staff emphasized there is 'no intention' to mix men and women in tank teams. Success will be measured by two criteria — uncompromised professional combat readiness and the establishment of a combat-capable framework. This echoed earlier versions of the story: as The Zioneer reported at 13:42 Jerusalem, initial reports had stated the pilot would be conducted outside the corps, and a later military source clarified that tank crews would be all-female or all-male.
The pilot remains controversial among religious-Zionist leaders. As The Zioneer reported earlier Wednesday, pre-military academy head Rabbi Eitan Shalev warned the pilot was launched against the military's own will and would exclude religious recruits. A similar call was issued earlier by Rabbi Yigal Levinstein regarding Sayeret Matkal. The hesder yeshiva letter itself was the latest escalation in a months-long rift over gender integration in combat roles, which has also included rabbinic rulings against service in mixed units and broader coalition pressure.
What remains open: the terms of the framework the yeshiva heads claim to have secured with the IDF remain unspecified, and it is unclear whether the pilot's success criteria — including the health threshold — will be sufficient to resolve the broader religious opposition to mixed-service in combat units.
6 developments
- DevelopingEntrepreneur David Portal attacks women-in-Armored Corps pilot: 'They are unsuitable, period'
- DevelopingPre-army academy head says Armored Corps mixed pilot threatens religious soldiers
- DevelopingReligious-Zionist organization Torat Lechima accuses IDF chief of radical feminism, calls on government to block women in Armored Corps pilot
- DevelopingHesder yeshiva heads say they have secured framework on female tank crew recruitment
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