Major Yoni Setbon (res.), head of the Ra'ananim movement that represents young religious-Zionist leadership, believes that the hubbub regarding the "women's singing" issue in the IDF is artificially manufactured by "people who hate religious Zionism."
"It looks like a press campaign against the religious public, the aim of which is to divide the IDF," Setbon told Arutz Sheva. "There is something bigger than the halakhic question at play here," he explained. "There are elements here – especially in the newspaper Haaretz – that wage a press campaign against anyone with any connection to the Zionist religious public. They identify them as people who harm them."
Rabbis and educators have often said that the left feels threatened by the idealism, integrity and moral values of the religious Zionist youth, who fight for Israel because they believe it belongs to the Jewish people..
Setbon added that as a company commander, he can say with certainty that the problem of religious soldiers avoiding women's singing in morale-boosting performances is a non-problem in the field. "In practice we get along just fine," he explained. "Commanders have always known how to bridge the gaps, because everyone knows that the real mission is not to sing but to win the battle."