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IDF to Establish Women-Only Combat Platoon for Religious Soldiers
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by Benjamin Kerstein
IDF soldiers in the Jordan Valley. Photo: IDF.
The Israel Defense Forces is setting up a single-gender platoon for religious female combat soldiers who wish to serve while preserving traditional gender divisions.
The decision, reported Sunday evening by Israeli public broadcaster Kan, follows a request made by principals of Jewish religious seminaries for women, who said that their pupils want to enlist in combat roles, but face obstacles within a mixed-gender unit due to their religious beliefs.
After a period of consideration, the IDF agreed to open a single-gender platoon during the next conscription round this March.
Women have been gradually integrated into certain, traditionally male IDF combat roles in recent years.
This past summer, female tank operators began serving in armored units on the Egyptian border as part of a pilot program. The IDF has not yet decided if the move will be permanent.
The IDF currently hosts four coed infantry battalions, the oldest of which — the majority-women Caracal Battalion — was first formed in 2000 as an experimental company.
