IDF chief stresses men and women won’t serve in same tanks as part of pilot program

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir stressed on Wednesday that men and women will not serve in the same tanks during training or operational activity, after the leaders of more than two dozen yeshivas threatened to stop sending their students to serve in tank units because of a pilot program integrating women into the Armored Corps.

During a meeting of top military officials on Tuesday to discuss the program, Zamir determined that the success of the pilot, set to begin in November, will be measured based on the soldiers’ “professional proficiency, in accordance with existing operational standards and without compromise,” and the establishment of new frameworks “that will enable a full and professional training process and, subsequently, operational capability to carry out routine security and combat missions.”

Zamir also stressed “the importance of maintaining the physical health of the female soldiers throughout the training process, and emphasized that abnormal injury rates, as seen in previous pilots, are not reasonable and indicate a need for adjustment of the process without compromising operational proficiency.”

Additionally, Zamir stated that “there is no intention to integrate men and women together in tank crews, in training or in mission phases.”

The IDF said that if the trial succeeds, “the integration of women will be carried out within a dedicated framework, which will be at least at the company level.” An Armored Corps company is normally composed of 11 tanks.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition

by email and never miss our top stories

By signing up, you agree to the terms

However, women and men would likely end up serving together at the battalion and brigade levels in combat. The military said that in those cases, “adjustments would be required” in accordance with the army’s existing protocols on men and women serving together.

The yeshiva rabbis who protested the integration in their letter last week wrote that they “take a very serious view of the decision by the High Court of Justice to require the IDF to integrate female combat soldiers” in the Armored Corps.

The court ruled last month that the army must begin a trial program for female soldiers to serve in the corps by November, following repeated delays by the military.

The yeshivas are all part of the Hesder program, which allows observant young men, typically national religious, to combine several years of Torah studies with a shortened military service, currently set at 17 months.

After the letter was released, the IDF released a statement insisting that men and women would not serve together inside the same tanks.

Many members of the religious Zionist community currently enlist in the Armored Corps — as well as in the Artillery Corps and various infantry brigades — as part of the Hesder program.

The tentative coed pilot program in the Armored Corps — whose units are trained to enter deep into enemy territory — was originally scheduled to start in 2024. The IDF had previously deemed the program impractical. Its opening was delayed twice during the multifront war, and the IDF last said it was expected to begin in November 2026.

Women already serve in a variety of combat roles in the IDF, in many cases alongside male counterparts. Female soldiers can already serve in tanks in the IDF’s Border Defense Corps as part of an all-female tank company in the Caracal mixed-gender light infantry battalion, which operates along the Egyptian border — not in fighting deep behind enemy lines.

Critics of gender integration in the military often decry it as a dangerous experiment with potential ramifications for national security, while defenders hail it as a long-needed measure that puts Israel on par with other Western countries.

Female tank crews helped fight off Hamas invaders during the October 7, 2023, attack, killing dozens of gunmen, and were hailed for their heroic actions in combat.

The army has insisted in the past that it is allowing more women to serve in combat positions for practical reasons, not as part of a progressive social agenda.

The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits — mostly combat troops — due to the strain caused by the war.