Only Clear Rules and Command Chain Can Keep IDF Religious Dispute from Becoming Internal Conflict

At least seven religious soldiers from the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion were sent to military prison after refusing to enter a Namer armored personnel carrier with a female paramedic during an operation in Gaza.

The soldiers said the vehicle’s cramped conditions violated the IDF’s Joint Service Order and understandings reached with religious-Zionist yeshivot. The army says religious soldiers may conduct operational activity in gender-segregated settings, except in exceptional circumstances. It canceled the mission after the refusal.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed the soldiers, saying they had insisted on their “right and duty” to serve while preserving their faith. The Jerusalem Post editorial argues that the IDF must also answer whether it honored the arrangements made with religious soldiers, who have served heavily in combat and reserve units since the October 7 massacre.

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right and duty

The editorial points to wartime examples in which military necessity brought religious observance and mixed-gender service into direct conflict. On October 7, Col. Shemer Raviv joined a female tank crew during fighting near Yated and directed its fire. Female tank crews also fought at Holit and Sufa, while male and female combat medics treated casualties under fire.

Female paramedics later entered Gaza with male combat units. One spent a month in a Namer with observant soldiers after a rabbi ruled that saving lives permitted the arrangement. These cases, the editorial says, show that the conflict can be managed, but only through clear rules, practical judgment and commanders who understand the soldiers they lead.

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Integrating women must allow one sector to serve alongside another without coming at its expense.