Rabbi Shomo Aviner, a prominent Religious Zionist rabbi, defended his call for religious youth to desert the IDF draft if the alternative was being forced to serve together with female combat soldiers. "I'm not telling people to refuse orders- I'm telling them to refuse a certain agenda," Rabbi Aviner said in an interview with Arutz Sheva. "It is a great mitzvah (commandment) to serve in the army but not when certain agendas are being pushed."