Rabbi Zvi Yisrael Tau, the head of the Har Hamor Yeshiva, spoke of the controversy that has arisen on the service of women in mixed gender combat units in the IDF, and called for protests against the policy of putting women in those positions. Har Hamor is Religious Zionist yeshiva.
In clips from a lecture given to his students which were posted by Channel 2, Rabbi Tau called for civil protests against what he termed "the loss of morality."
"It is an existential issue for the entire nation, the entire people," Rabbi Tau said. "It must be taken to the streets. We must go out and call it a civil revolt."
He said that it is a matter "of whether we live on the level of animals, or whether we live as human beings."
"The people are being led astray, with sand being thrown in their eyes. We must ensure that everyone knows this, and that they go out and protest: 'this is not the mandate which was given to the army,'" he told his students.
Referring to comments made about the LGBT community in 2016 by Rabbi Yigal Levenstein, Rabbi Tau said: "They want to embed these things as values. It began with sexual deviants and now continues with this."
"It cannot be ignored. It is insanity. It is the loss of wisdom and the loss of basic morality. Are we human beings or are we animals? We cannot possibly fulfill these types of orders which violate [the basic principles of] modesty," the Rabbi said.