Senior rabbis from the Religious Zionist community sent a strongly worded letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning against plans to expand the integration of women into frontline military units.
In the letter, the rabbis said that turning the Armored Corps into a mixed-gender formation would force their students into an irreconcilable conflict between religious commitment and military service. Male and female soldiers serving in the same crowded tank, for example, is irreconcilable with halakha.
The rabbis emphasized that their students serve at the forefront of the Israel Defense Forces with devotion, viewing their service as a supreme national and religious mission. However, the rabbis expressed alarm at what they described as a rapid push to integrate female combat soldiers into core fighting units. They wrote that the IDF’s strength does not rest solely on military power, but also on spiritual foundations, stressing that maintaining sanctity and modesty in military camps is essential not only for religious soldiers but for the army’s overall resilience and success.
The rabbis explained that they had refrained from public criticism during months of active fighting out of a sense of national responsibility, but said recent developments left them no choice but to speak out against mixed-gender service that contradicts Jewish law, tradition, and Israel’s foundational values. They also warned that such policies undermine the IDF’s stated goal of encouraging the enlistment of religious and haredi soldiers.
The letter notes that converting the Armored Corps into a mixed unit, similar to changes previously made in the Artillery Corps, which has seen a sharp drop in religious soldiers as a result, would effectively bar Torah-observant soldiers from meaningful service, weaken the combat force, and erode the concept of a unified people’s army. The letter also criticized what it described as the adoption of external social agendas unrelated to military effectiveness or security needs.
They called on the Prime Minister to safeguard the IDF as an army that enables all soldiers to serve in accordance with their religious way of life, for the sake of victory and national unity. They demanded an urgent meeting with Netanyahu to prevent the decision from becoming a serious and irreversible crisis.