The erasure of women in the name of religion

The Israeli government is throwing women under the bus in the name of religion. And nobody in any position of power seems to care. Many, in fact, are encouraging it. 

Over the past several months, as much of the Israeli public has focused on the demand to draft ultra-Orthodox (haredi) men into the Israel Defense Forces, far less attention has been paid to what this process would mean for women serving. And in a not-even-secret process, the draft debate has become an excuse to further exclude women –  not to integrate haredi men while preserving women’s equality, but rather to redefine the army in ways that make women’s presence increasingly restricted, or even absent entirely. 

Last week, as charged arguments on the haredi draft were flying through the Knesset, a group of religious Zionist Knesset members marched through the building demanding that whatever the haredi soldiers get, “their” soldiers get, too. That is: If haredi men get the “right” to women-free zones, religious Zionist (male) soldiers should be granted that “right”, too. 

This is what happened: In early February, the Chief of Staff approved a new General Staff ordinance regulating the enlistment and service frameworks for ultra-Orthodox men in the IDF. For the first time, what had previously been informal arrangements were formalized into binding military policy, including the creation of designated women-free units and bases. The all-male frameworks will not only be in ultra-Orthodox units, but also in training, command, and mixed-service contexts. The order does not offer any clear safeguards to ensure women’s access to roles, mobility, or promotion. This means that any male soldier who decides that he does not want women around – in his training, in his mess tent, in his rituals or any ceremony – can make the request, and women will be summarily ousted. Just like that. For being a woman. 

These things are already happening, as I chronicled in my book,  The War on Women in Israel as well as in other places, like this article in Slate. But it has been, until now, illegal. All that is about to change as women’s exclusion becomes officially permitted by law. All that in order to get haredi soldiers to be willing to be drafted into the army. (Well, maybe, if they don’t revolt anyway.)

Surprisingly, several religious Zionist MKs supported the new ordinance. Rather than side with their modernized, army-serving public, they sided with their retrograde, openly misogynistic, anti-army, ultra-Orthodox colleagues. Minister Orit Strook, MK Avi Maoz,  and Minister Simcha Rothman led the march to exclude women, all from the religious Zionist camp, not the haredi one. Their credentials speak to where this group is heading. Maoz, we should remember, is the homophobic leader of one-person bloc within the religious Zionist faction charged with of all things “National Jewish Identity” and “Jewish Values curriculum”, and the radical Strook –  who is currently under investigation for running a religious sex cult, and who regularly acts as a megaphone for homophobia and Smotrich’s fascism – have said that they oppose women’s inclusion in the army because it “prioritizes women over men”. And Rothman, well, one of the heads of the drive to end democracy in Israel with the so-called “judicial overhaul”, is also against measures to protect women from violence, which he called “controversial” and “extreme”.  Like that. 

This alignment between religious Zionist and ultra-Orthodox MKs around women’s exclusion is particularly striking given that religious Zionist women themselves are moving in the opposite direction. Enlistment data shows that despite pressure from rabbis, record numbers of religious women choosing military service over national service, including entry into combat and operational roles and including the army’s  first combat platoon for graduates of religious seminaries.

Religious Zionist leadership seems to be quite out of step with and their base. In fact, the gap between the religious Zionist community and its politicians has never seemed wider.

Nevertheless, the leadership – or at least those who have access to big budgets – are not about to give up.

“Either victory or equality!”

It gets worse. 

To be sure, there were always voices in the religious Zionist rabbinate against women’s army service. And it has never been about what is actually right for women. It has always – I mean ALWAYS – been about men. About men’s needs and men’s perceptions of women, not about women’s lives as human beings. It has always been about creating spaces where men do not have to look at women because women are deemed sexual distractions to the “real” soldiers, i.e., the men. Although this obnoxious misogyny is hardly new,  it seems to be taking on new directions and impetus, bolstered not only by rabbis but also by religious Zionist MKs and some expensive social media tools. 

For example, a 2018 booklet for religious soldiers on how to “cope” with women soldiers called “Your Camp Shall be Holy” advises men to avoid looking at women trainers – and indeed, at least in one publicized case, a group of religious paratroopers turned their backs completely on their female instructors. “The great ease with which these rabbis encourage conduct that can only be described as humiliating and degrading to women – is intolerable”, writes Dr. Idit Shafran Gittlemen of the Israel Democracy Institute. These are not instructions for women but for men on how to keep women out of their sight and minds, even when women continue to roam around in the world. 

This rabbinic pearl-clutching about women soldiers has now intensified. Last week, dozens of  Religious Zionist yeshiva heads, rabbis, and educators convened for “an emergency discussion” to discuss IDF trends – on the one hand the IDF’s plan to integrate women into into the Armored Corps’ maneuvering units, and on the other hand the new ordinance for all-male units for religious men. Here is how one religious news outlet described the absolute terror that religious men may have to serve alongside women:

During the meeting, testimonies were presented from religious soldiers in the Engineering Corps who fought in Gaza. They claimed that female paramedics and combat soldiers were assigned to remain with them for extended periods in crowded armored personnel carriers and buildings, contrary to the Joint Service Ordinance. The rabbis warned of halachic difficulties, harm to motivation, and even damage to combat performance…..In one testimony, a rabbi-teacher serving in artillery described issues of immodest dress and shared spaces in a command APC, which he said led to professional and operational issues…Rabbi David Fendel warned that if the move continues, students may “vote with their feet” and avoid enlisting in the Armored Corps. He called for an urgent letter from yeshiva rabbis to the defense establishment demanding that the move be halted, which he described as being perceived as a serious blow to the IDF.

These rabbis are teaching men to be terrified of women. Absolutely terrified of women’s very presence. 

Wait, there’s more.

(And I warn you, if you are someone who believes that women are human beings who can work professionally and should be respected for their contributions to society – well, grab a bucket before you watch this.)

A new, massive, glossy, social media campaign underway to once again paint women soldiers as dangerous, sexualized, mindless caricatures of distractions to male soldiers. In one shiny AI-made video that is making the rounds, the message is frighteningly explicit. It opens with a religious woman at home with her children, receiving a phone call from her husband, a religious soldier serving in a tank. The conversation is ordinary until it becomes clear that a woman paramedic is also in the tank near the husband. The wife grows visibly distressed, explaining that with all her fears, she now has to worry about her husband being alone with a female soldier. The husband tries to dismiss her concerns, while looking terrified at the presence of a woman nearby. The wife notes his alarm and complains, “Why do we have to have women in the army? Doesn’t anyone understand that this harms our values?” The husband replies in annoyance, “It’s all that ‘political correctness’ and ‘feminist trolls’.” Throughout the clip, the female soldier is never shown as a professional or medic or even competent person. She appears only as a flirtatious, mindless sexual presence, a threat to male purity. The video ends with its slogan meant to terrify us: “It’s either equality or victory.”

The message is clear and deliberate: Women’s equality is presented as the big problem for the the Jewish people. The goal of Jewishness is presented as this amorphous thing called “victory”, a word that has been hammered into our heads by our political leaders for over two years now. And amid that jingoistic charge that has so many Israelis fired up is this terrible obstacle: Women. Or “Equality” or “feminism”. Also called “women’s organizations”. Also called “trolls”. These are all code for one thing: Enemy. Women are now the enemy. 

The campaign against women escalated further on Channel 14, which aired a two-part “investigation” titled “Equality or Burden”, alleging that women soldiers harm the IDF. Legitimate questions were mixed with outright falsehoods. Central to the attack was Lieutenant Colonel Or Ben Yehuda, a decorated battalion commander, whose reputation was deliberately smeared without naming her.

Despite Ben Yehuda’s distinguished service — including receiving a commendation in 2015 and leading fighters under fire on October 7 — she received no public backing from the prime minister, defense minister, or national security minister. Only IDF Spokesperson Efi Defrin issued an unusual public defense, including a photo of his own daughter in uniform.

The same pattern repeated against organizations advocating equal service obligations, particularly religious women-led groups such as Partnership for Service. The attacks consistently target the “weak link”: religious women leading public struggles — wives of reservists, some serving themselves. These women are mocked, delegitimized, and portrayed as traitors or naïve tools of the left.

Noa Mavorach, a religious woman whose husband has served over 380 days of reserve duty, was disinvited from a national-religious education conference after political pressure — while ministers Bezalel Smotrich, Amichai Eliyahu, and Avi Maoz remained welcome.

As Chen Artzi Tsror writes in Yediot Aharonot:  “The attack on women soldiers functions as a kind of political flak jacket. When Religious Zionist MKs are forced to explain to their voters why they support a draft-exemption law, they need a scapegoat. Women in the IDF are the most convenient target.”

Women are now being targeted as the enemy.  

And why are women  being painted as the enemy? 

Because men, the people who matter, need their purity.  Their freedom. Their power. And all of that is threatened by the presence of women. Who bring sexual distraction. Who are being painted as these beings who ruin men’s focus on the absolute goal of military prowess. 

Women’s bodies, ambitions, or demands for basic rights are now being cast as the threat to all things good. 

As Tal Hochman, CEO of The Israel Women’s Network says, “The exclusion of women as part of the terms of military service marks a dangerous turning point that will not stop at army bases, but will shape women’s place in Israeli society as a whole.”

This is what we are in for this election year. Be ready to hear “Either equality or victory” as women get trashed.  

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Here is a way to take action in order to protect women’s equal rights through the Israel Women’s Network: 

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is finalizing the wording of the draft law right now to allow for the creation of “women-free” or “sterile” spaces within the military. This is our last window of opportunity to ensure that MK Boaz Bismuth, chair of the committee, hears our voices.

Our demand is basic: clear protection mechanisms for women soldiers must be written into the draft law. Equality for one group cannot be advanced at the expense of another. Women have proven their courage, strength, and indispensability as part of the IDF’s operational needs.

This is our moment to ensure that everything we have fought for is not taken away — and to make sure we are not pushed backward.

Click here to send an email to MK Bismuth