The Israel Air Force's video
IDF removes air force's International Women's Day video
IAF's official Facebook page published a video Thursday showing women in serving in various air force roles bashing those who speak out against women serving; IDF Spokesperson's Unit removes video, citing failure to receive proper authorization, but video may have been removed fearing backlash from religious figures; new campaign by former female soldiers, officers publishes video bashing hard-line rabbis who spoke out against coed service.
The IDF has removed this week a video the Israel Air Force (IAF) produced for International Women's Day, containing scathing criticism against those objecting to women being given key army postings. The IDF claimed the video was not officially sanctioned by the Spokesperson's Unit, and it was removed from the IAF's official Facebook page.
The video—produced at considerable expense over the course of the past few weeks—shows women in a multitude of roles in the air service, from combat postings to operations rooms.
The IAF's deleted video for International Women's Day (קרדיט: חיל האוויר)
"They say women can't be combat soldiers, they aren't cut out for it, they aren't capable physiologically and should be at home with their children," the video said. "They say mothers can't serve in operational roles. You can't really do it. So they said."
Screenshots from IAF's video (Photo: Israel Air Force)
The creators of the video claimed they had no intention of defying rabbis or religious figures, who have recently spoken out vociferously against both coed service and women in the armed forces in general, at that the video's timing was merely meant to note the advancement of women in the army.
The combustible issue of women's IDF service has made headline numerous times recently, in light of an ongoing campaign by religious figures protesting the expansion of roles and units in which women serve alongside men.
(Photo: Israel Air Force)
The army's irregular decision to remove the video may well have been influenced by a fear of escalating responses from religious or political figures against the army.
Uploading videos, photos and other content to the air force's social media pages is carried out with the close supervision of officers entrusted with the matter.
The IAF, long considered a trailblazer in both operations and social causes alike, uploaded a post to its official Twitter account recently voicing support of a gay couple, one of whom served as an IAF officer, for Family Day.
(Photo: Israel Air Force)
The same day the video was removed, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot spoke at a conference marking International Women's Day, with dozens of current and former army officers in attendance.
"At the opening of its seventieth year, the State of Israel is very strong—militarily, economically and infrastructure-wise," he said. "When you talk about integrating women into the IDF, the question that needs to be asked is who is most suited to the job, regardless of gender. I can't imagine an army without women—(their presence) makes it stronger and smarter."
The Na'amat Movement of Working Women & Volunteers Chairperson Galia Wolloch commented on the video's removal, and said, "The chief of staff has to speak up and provide some clarifications. The video's removal is far from an isolated incident, and is part of a growing phenomenon of what seems like acceptance of women's exclusion in the IDF.
(Photo: Israel Air Force)
"I know the chief of staff's own values do no coincide with the grave incidents we have witnesses as late. However, it should be noted Lt.-Gen. Eisenkot has yet to speak out clearly against extreme statements by hard-line rabbis and heads of preparatory programs, who incite and seek to push women out of the public sphere in general and the army in particular.
"Furthermore, it feels recently like female soldiers are sacrificed at the altar of attempts to placate certain figures."
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said, "The aforementioned video was prepared by the personnel of the IAF's newsletter and is not an official product of the Spokesperson's Unit. Without commenting on the product's content, it should be noted it did not receive proper authorization for media going up on IDF platforms. Clearly defined guidelines will be set as a result."
New female combat soldiers' group publishes video bashing rabbis' statements
On a related matter, a group of female combat soldiers banded together to counter the campaign by rabbis and civil society groups calling on girls to forego combat service.The group, called the "Female combat soldiers' forum," contains more than 200 women who have served in combat units in the past or do so in the present. The forum produced a video showing former combat soldiers and reserve officers, some of them religious, speaking out against statements by rabbis decrying female integration.
The forum's video decrying rabbis' statements against women serving (Photo: Female combat soldiers' forum)
The forum also initiated a web petition calling on the rabbis to be fired if they refuse to apologize, as they are "inciting against women."
The video said, "The freedom to speak out nonsense does not justify a freedom to receive funding from our own pockets."
'They don't possess a capacity to learn' (Photo: Female combat soldiers' forum)
Director of the Shavim Shonot group for equal opportunities Hila Shay-Vazan, whose group created the petition, said, "Religious or secular, of any denomination, from everywhere in Israel—should stop allowing primitive statements unsuited for the 21st century.
"Each passing moment these rabbis continue receiving a salary from the state, they continue humiliating us. We will stop being silent until they grow silent."
Amir Alon contributed to this report.
