Religious troops briefly blocked female soldiers from base — report

Female soldiers were briefly denied entry to a military outpost in northern Israel because an ultra-Orthodox unit was stationed there, Channel 12 news reports.

According to the report, intelligence soldiers from Unit 8200 arrived for routine activity at the post in the Golan Heights, where they were denied entry.

An officer at the post tells Channel 12 that a company from the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion — a unit ostensibly for Haredi male soldiers — is currently stationed there, and those troops stopped the female soldiers from entering. Eventually, the female troops were allowed in after officers at the post intervened, the report says.

The IDF, in response, says that “after commanders intervened, the incident was addressed, and the female officer entered the post and carried out her mission as required.”

It is unclear why the IDF only refers to one female officer while the report claims it was several soldiers who tried to enter the post.

“The IDF will continue to act to provide a respectful and equitable service environment, while fully preserving the way of life of all service members, and without the service of one population coming at the expense of the other,” the military adds.

Under the IDF’s protocols for service conditions for Haredi troops, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion is gender-segregated, but its soldiers may come into contact with women while serving at various bases where female troops also serve.

A new unit, the Hasmonean Brigade, is the only one where protocols allow for all personnel to maintain gender separation on base.