national religious camp

Flowers lay on the grave of late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin during a memorial service marking 21 years since his assassination, held at Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on November 4, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

June 14, 2018, 11:45 am

Religious soldiers jailed after refusing to visit Rabin’s grave, going AWOL

Four servicemen sentenced to 14 days in prison after they refuse to visit the burial site of Israel's assassinated PM while on an army trip

By Judah Ari Gross

Rabbi Eli Sadan speaks during a protest in front of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on February 21, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

May 2, 2018, 10:38 am

Officers and gentlemen? Religious Zionist flagship academy comes under scrutiny

Illiberal remarks by rabbi-teachers shine spotlight on pre-military institution, whose graduates wield considerable influence in the IDF

By Jacob Magid

Rabbi Eli Sadan leads a Torah lesson at the Bnei David pre-army academy in the Eli settlement on February 28, 2018. (Screen capture/YouTube)

April 11, 2018, 11:50 am

No, my career didn’t ruin me for marriage

Some influential Religious Zionist rabbis claim women who work are damaged goods; I know they're wrong

By Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

Female graduates of the IAF's 163rd flight school course (photo credit: IDF Flickr/CC BY-NC)

March 10, 2018, 4:56 pm

Outcry as IDF removes video celebrating female air force soldiers

Clip was posted for International Women's Day; taken down amid reported pressure from religious groups who oppose integration of female soldiers into combat roles

By TOI staff

Illustrative photo of religious girls at study. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

February 14, 2018, 9:12 am

Religious girls protest pressure to join Israeli military

Campaign follows Education Ministry proposal to fund groups that guide religious women who want to join the IDF

By JTA

Rabbi Tzvi Kostiner (Screencapture: YouTube)

January 30, 2018, 12:48 am

Nationalist rabbi warns young women not to serve, says IDF ‘destroys’ families

Rabbi Tzvi Kostiner, who heads a pre-army academy, tells teens the army wants to harm families, mixed service has led to 'insanity'

By TOI staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Yesha Council leaders at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on September 27, 2017. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

December 27, 2017, 5:51 pm

Government grants settlements NIS 40 million for security, first-aid

PMO denies allocation has anything to do with Netanyahu's sit-down with national religious rabbis a day earlier, in which he asked for support amid corruption allegations

By Jacob Magid

Illustrative: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Rabbi Haim Druckman at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on February 8, 2012. (Avi Ohayon/GPO/Flash90)

December 26, 2017, 10:52 pm

PM lobbies right-wing rabbis for backing amid corruption probes

While some prominent religious leaders express support for Netanyahu, others reportedly frustrated over stalled settlement building

By TOI staff

Female soldiers participate in an official ceremony marking Israel's Memorial Day, one day ahead of Israel's 69'th Indepedence Day in Kiryat Shaul military cemetery, Tel Aviv, on May 1, 2017. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

November 9, 2017, 8:43 pm

Why some religious Israelis are saying women are weakening the army

Zionist rabbis demand IDF chief of staff make changes, or thousands of highly motivated observant men will avoid military duty

By Andrew Tobin

Religious soldiers of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion pray while completing the final stages of a 40 kilometer journey in 2010. (Photo: Abir Sultan/Flash90)

November 6, 2017, 12:49 pm

Rabbis threaten IDF with boycott over mixed-gender service

Orthodox leaders say they'll tell students not to enroll in officers' course, unless army changes gender regulations

By Judah Ari Gross

Illustrative: Female Artillery Corps soldiers march and salute during a ceremony on February 25, 2015. (IDF Spokesperson's Unit/Flickr)

May 29, 2017, 10:34 pm

Twice as many religious women volunteering for IDF

Rabbinical objections notwithstanding, new data shows rise in observant female soldiers from 930 in 2010 to 2,000 in 2015

By Tamar Pileggi

President Reuven Rivlin, Jerusalem, April 4, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

April 13, 2017, 4:42 pm

Rivlin slams Haaretz column for ‘defamation,’ ‘vast hatred’

President joins denunciations of Op-ed in left-wing daily which called religious right 'more dangerous than Hezbollah'

By Alexander Fulbright

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman at the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset, March 6, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

April 13, 2017, 11:24 am

Liberman: Boycott Haaretz for Op-ed calling Israel’s religious right more dangerous than Hezbollah

Defense minister says 'frustrated' columnist Yossi Klein's piece against national-religious community 'crosses all the red lines'

By Alexander Fulbright

Religious Jews in the settlement of Migdal Oz burn leavened products ahead of the Passover holiday on April 10, 2017. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

April 13, 2017, 2:05 am

Paper draws fire for op-ed calling national religious worse than Hezbollah

PM calls on Haaretz to apologize as condemnation pours in across political spectrum, but publisher says he doesn't understand fuss

By TOI staff

Women soldiers in one of the IDF's field intelligence units on September 21, 2014 (IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

March 27, 2017, 11:55 am

Right-wing rabbi blasts MK for taking on IDF over women’s service

Yeshiva head Tzvi Tau denounces lawmaker Bezalel Smotrich for telling yeshiva students to defer enlistment in protest of army's purported 'radical feminist' agenda

By TOI staff