Number of nationalist-religious women volunteering for IDF doubles

The number of women from nationalist-religious backgrounds joining the IDF doubled between 2010 and 2015, the Knesset hears on Monday.

The figures come from the Knesset’s in-house research arm, which presents the findings to lawmakers at a meeting in the parliament Monday dealing with military service for religiously-observant women — who are not obligated to serve under law.

The total figure of women from the nationalist-religious education system who joined the IDF rose from 930 in 2010 to just over 2,000 in 2015. That figure constitutes 26 percent of the entire female graduating cohort from nationalist-religious schools that year.

In recent years, several prominent rabbis from the community have railed against women serving in the IDF, arguing it contradicted their religious commitments.