Israel’s Army Denies Petition To Open All Units To Women

Israel’s army (IDF) on Tuesday denied a petition by soldiers to allow women to serve in “elite” combat and frontline units.

However, it told Israel’s High Court of Justice that a new “pilot program” will let women apply for the Air Force’s rescue unit or for bomb disposal positions in a special ops unit of the Combat Engineering Corps.

The program is the result of the recommendation of a panel appointed by the IDF’s Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi on the potential of women being allowed into more combat roles, Haaretz reported.

Kochavi’s panel noted that “dozens” of women meet the criteria for combat roles each year, but advised to wait with other units until after the pilot program.

The panel added that, as for “elite” units, women should not be allowed to join them because a “very low” number of them satisfy the physical requirement for such roles.