In recent months, there have been frequent public discussions about the role of women in the Israeli army. Men must serve two years and eight months, women two years. During that time, those women have proved again and again that they are in no way inferior as soldiers. In fact, a woman was recently made commander of a flight squadron. And the Israel Air Force is seeking even more female pilots.
But full integration of women into all branches of the IDF is not universally supported. For example, some religious soldiers refused to look directly at a parachuting instructor as she was teaching them how to jump out of an airplane. On several occasions, and against direct orders, religious male soldiers have refused to attend events where female soldiers were singing. The army has vigorously debated how to handle these incidents. A few months ago, 13 female soldiers successfully completed an eight-month course to become tank operators. Even that was not supported in all quarters. One brigadier general argued that there were already plenty of male soldiers to do these...
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