Liberman, Bennett spar over rabbi who disparaged female soldiers
Defense minister accuses Jewish Home head of backing those who want to ‘turn Israel into Iran,’ calls on Rabbi Yigal Levinstein to resign

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) and Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) sparred online on Wednesday over a controversial rabbi who last week made a series of offensive remarks against women serving in the military.
Liberman has threatened to sever official recognition of the institutions associated with Rabbi Yigal Levinstein if the rabbi does not resign. Currently, students at the hesder yeshiva can count part of their time at the institution toward mandatory army service. Without recognition, they would lose that ability.
Levinstein, head of a religious pre-army academy and hesder yeshiva in the settlement of Eli, came under fire last week after a video emerged of him saying female soldiers were not Jews and military service had driven them “crazy.
Bennett slammed Liberman for calling for the resignation, tweeting that the defense minister was looking to do some political maneuvering at the IDF’s expense. Bennett also criticized the rabbi for the “miserable” remarks and in a Facebook post, praised women who serve.
He also said the institution in Eli would not be closed.
Liberman had earlier on Wednesday accused Bennett of standing up for religious extremism.
“Bennett is defending those who want to turn Israel into Iran,” Liberman tweeted. “We will not allow it. In Israel, women are equal to men and military service is for everyone.”
Bennett shot back that Liberman was engaging in “typical political babble.”

Earlier, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, also of the Jewish Home party, said in a statement that Liberman had “crossed a red line” in calling for Levinstein’s resignation.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely of the Likud party also slammed Liberman.
“The pre-army program in Eli is an educational institutions that trains the best of the IDF’s fighters,” she said in a statement. “Talk of closing the program is disconnected from reality. Criticizing Rabbi Levinstein’s words is legitimate, but his statements are covered under freedom of speech.”

After footage was broadcast a week ago on Channel 2 news showing Levinstein telling several hundred graduates of a prestigious religious army preparatory academy in the West Bank settlement of Bnei Atzmon that IDF service has “driven our girls crazy,” he responded to an outcry by saying he regretted the way he spoke but stuck by the ideas.
In his speech Levinstein said that women who serve in the army leave their religion behind during their time in the military.
“They recruit them to the army, where they enter as Jews, but they’re not Jews by the time they leave,” he said. “Not in the genetic sense, but all of their values and priorities have been upset and we must not allow it.”

Liberman said that such statements, and past similar ones by Levinstein against “different groups who serve in the army” show intent to incite and also “represent a loss of sensibility – I don’t know which of the two is worse.”
Levinstein drew censure last year after calling homosexuals “deviants” in a speech. He wrote a letter to the Defense Ministry, explaining his comments, but has had many of his activities with the military cut in light of his controversial remarks.
In his televised speech to recruits, Levinstein referenced last summer’s scandal, saying he met recently with an IDF general to smooth things over.
In his latest remarks, Levinstein also discussed gay men.
“They call them ‘new families,’ with two dads. It’s an insane asylum, simply an insane asylum,” he said, shaking his head.