Female soldiers were pulled from meeting with PM in south Lebanon because Haredi troops were also present

A squad of female troops from an artillery unit currently stationed in southern Lebanon were told to leave the building they were stationed in yesterday in south Lebanon shortly before the arrival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The mother of one of the soldiers tells the Kan public broadcaster that the women were told that soldiers from the ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade would be joining Netanyahu for the visit.

In order to “respect” the Haredi soldiers, the four women were asked to leave the home that they themselves had helped clean and secure for Netanyahu’s visit, the mother tells Kan.

For four hours, the girls sat alone in an adjacent house, and were not even permitted to go upstairs to avoid a scenario in which the Hasmonean soldiers might “accidentally” see them, the mother says.

The home that was used for the Netanyahu visit wasn’t even in an area where the Hasmonean Brigade was stationed, but organizers of the visit still wanted the troops to take part, as the premier tries to present the unit as a success story, in an apparent effort to blunt criticism of his coalition’s efforts to pass legislation granting blanket conscription exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students.