IDF chief praises female officers amid gender integration debate

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot singled out for praise two female soldiers during a graduation ceremony for Israeli Navy officers on Tuesday, in the wake of remarks by a prominent rabbi, revealed last week, against women enlisting in the military.

“Among the graduates of the course there are two female graduates — naval officer Dana and naval officer Na’ama, two naval officers whose sense of mission and love of the country led them to choose a challenging and demanding path,” Eisenkot said, during the ceremony at the navy’s Haifa base.

“By standing here, you have an important role in establishing the status of women in key positions of the IDF’s fighting force,” he said.

At nearly three years long, the Naval Officers’ Course is one of the Israel Defense Forces’ more intensive programs. Graduates go on to receive command positions on naval vessels.

The navy has taken on increasing importance for the Israel as it provides protection not only to the shore, but also to the country’s shipping lanes and gas fields.

At the end of the course, the graduates receive both a bachelor’s degree in political science and a lieutenant’s rank.

Eisenkot’s specific remarks about the female naval officers were an apparent response to an ongoing debate in Israeli society about the integration of female soldiers into the military.

Last Tuesday, Channel 2 news broadcast remarks made by Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, who co-heads a prominent pre-army religious preparatory program, in which he said that Jewish women who enlist in the military “are not Jewish on the way out.”

Levinstein also said the military drove them “crazy,” and added that no one would want to marry a female soldier.

The controversial rabbi later apologized for his aggressive tone, but refused to back down from the content. He drew criticism from across the political spectrum, with few exceptions.

IDF Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Moti Almoz, who also leads the army’s Manpower Directorate, denounced Levinstein’s remarks last week, saying the army is “for everyone.”