Illustration
IllustrationPhoto by Yahav Trudler/IDF Spokesperson

Senior IDF officers are increasingly seeking out male staff members for bureau chiefs and other management positions, according to a report Friday morning by Yediot Ahronot’s army correspondent Yossi Yehoshua.

The driving force behind this trend, says Yehoshua, is the recent spate of accusations of sexual misconduct by male commanders with female subordinates; most notably claims that Brigadier General Ofek Buchris raped two female soldiers. Buchris, who has been indicted following the accusations, resigned his commission earlier this week and will stand trial as a civilian.

In the wake of the Buchris affair, a number of IDF commanders have declared they will no longer accept female officials in their staffs, hoping it will “prevent these kinds of incidents”.

The number of female staff members in the IDF has risen dramatically over the past two decades.

While 20 years ago there were 40% more male than female staffers, today there are 4% more female staffers than men.