Pilot for female combat soldiers in the Armored Corps: Training will take place at a separate base, women will not be assigned to tanks with men
The IDF will begin next month a pilot for integrating female combat soldiers into the Armored Corps. Women will not be assigned to tanks with men, and training will take place at a separate base following a letter from heads of hesder yeshivas. 100 candidates have expressed interest, 50 will enlist in the upcoming draft. Religious Zionist rabbis are demanding an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister.
The IDF will begin next month a pilot for integrating female combat soldiers into the Armored Corps. As part of the move, women will not be assigned to tanks together with men, as reported by Kan News. The female soldiers will be required to meet the same training standards as men. 100 candidates have expressed interest in the track, and 50 of them will enlist in the upcoming draft for basic training in the corps. Following a letter from heads of hesder yeshivas, who announced they would forbid their students from enlisting in the Armored Corps, the Chief of Staff instructed that the training take place at a separate base. In February, Kan News reported that the IDF would begin a dedicated pilot for integrating female combat soldiers into the Armored Corps. The possibility examined in the IDF is a unique and prestigious track in the corps' 460th Training Brigade, where training and operational activity could be enabled in a gender-separate company, which may prevent the concern that a religious soldier would be required to serve in a mixed tank. This is a dedicated track that includes classified technological capabilities. Meanwhile, 20 rabbis from Religious Zionism from the organization "Rabbanei Torat HaAretz HaTova" sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which they demand an "urgent meeting" following the expansion of integrating female combat soldiers into the combat array. At the opening of their letter, titled "Damage to Operational Resilience and the Service Capability of Our Soldiers," the rabbis noted that their students serve at the forefront of the IDF and view their service as a supreme religious and national duty. However, they expressed "deep anxiety in light of the accelerated trend of integrating female combat soldiers into frontline units."