Zamir meets religious Zionist rabbis, tells them IDF short ‘thousands of combat troops, needs every male and female soldier’

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir met yesterday with rabbis from the religious Zionist community, amid threats by them to stop sending their students to serve in tank units because of a pilot program integrating women into the Armored Corps, the military says.

In a statement, the IDF says that Zamir told the rabbis that the military “is still short thousands of combat troops and needs every male and female soldier to fulfill its missions and consolidate the campaign’s achievements.”

According to the IDF, Zamir also vowed to the rabbis that “as part of expanding the integration of women into key positions and combat roles, which is of tremendous operational importance and which the IDF will continue to expand, the establishment of frameworks and the opening of positions will be implemented in full accordance with the [military’s protocols on men and women serving together] during routine periods, emergencies, and wartime.”

“These measures will be carried out in accordance with operational needs and while meeting professional standards, without compromise,” he says.

The military says that the rabbis “clarified that they would continue to educate their students toward meaningful military service as required,” and they also described “the challenges faced by observant soldiers during their military service and raised the need for every observant soldier to be able to serve in the IDF in accordance with his beliefs and values.”

Many men from the religoius zionist community enlist as part of the Hesder program, which allows observant young men to combine several years of Torah studies with a shortened military service, currently set at 17 months.

Meanwhile, women who graduate from all-girls religious high schools are automatically eligible for an exemption from army service on religious grounds, although some still choose to serve.