Lt. Col. Rav Moshe Ravad, the Israel Air Force's Chief Rabbi, met IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Ido Nechushtan Tuesday and asked him to relieve him of his post. He will remain in the IDF until his retirement, which is a few months away, but will not be in a command role.
Lt. Col. Ravad expressed his "loss of faith in the system" after what he saw as recent attempts to demean hareidi-religious soldiers and other religious soldiers.
Last week, he sent Nechushtan and IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Rafi Peretz a letter in which he denied Rav Peretz's accusations that he had set back the process of enlisting hareidim to the IDF by resigning from stewardship of the Shachar Kachol program. He protested that it was the IDF Chief Rabbi who had caused the setbacks.
A source close to Lt. Col. Ravad told Arutz Sheva that the rabbi had been "deeply hurt" by the behavior of Brig. Gen. Peretz in the matter of women's singing in the IDF. The source said that by being silent on the matter, Brig. Gen. Peretz had joined the systemic IDF attack on religious soldiers.