"Listen girl, have you ever seen a man knit socks? Have you ever seen a woman surgeon or conductor of an orchestra? Women are unable to withstand the pressure needed by fighter pilots."
This quote, which today would not have survived the filter of political correctness, is attributed to none other than the president and former Air Force commander, the late Ezer Weizmann, who slapped him on Alice Miller - the woman more responsible than anyone else for the IDF women's revolution.
In 1995, long before Mi-Tu was in vogue and when feminism was still considered by many to be a rude word, Miller filed a petition in the High Court that was then perceived as revolutionary, not to mention cheeky. To the most prestigious track in the IDF.
Weizmann may not have been impressed by the "maidla," but the High Court judges thought otherwise: in a precedent-setting and historic ruling, they ruled that the premature disqualification of women from qualifying for a pilot's course constitutes prohibited gender discrimination.
Illustration, Photo: Oren Cohen
Miller herself did not successfully pass the screenings, and ended her service as an Air Force officer;
But the ruling in the petition caused a revolution that is still taking place, and opened up for women the possibility of enlisting in many combat routes, including pilot course, seamanship course, various positions in the Artillery and Air Force, and all positions in the Border Guard (except the Undercover Unit) and Border Protection Brigades.
Despite the tremendous progress, the revolution has not yet been completed.
An amendment to the Security Service Law of January 2000 completed the High Court ruling, stating that female soldiers with a suitable medical profile reserve the right to volunteer for a closed list of combat professions determined by the Minister of Defense.
In practice, the infantry and armored brigades, which form the backbone of the IDF combat force, as well as the elite units, have remained closed to women to this day.
A year ago, a petition was submitted to the High Court of Justice regarding the integration of women in elite units, and at the same time the army seems to be "dragging its feet" with the ongoing pilot of integrating women as combatants in the Armored Corps.
Alice Miller, Photo: Flash 90
Despite this, it seems that the train has already left the station and it is only a matter of time before all the IDF combat units are opened to women. To submit to the High Court judges an opinion supported by other former senior members of the unit, according to which "the patrol misses the maximum value potential due to the reduction in recruitment to the unit for men only."
"Certainly a woman can be a fighter," agrees Colonel Ronen Itzik, former commander of the Armored Brigade and now a military-social relations researcher. "He says," In units where the gender occupation is something that contains it and the unit will remain cohesive, it is possible to integrate women without compromising the ability and ability to win.
In units that could be harmed, there is no point in starting with it at this stage, it is better to do it in a graded manner. "
War on two fronts
Weapon sampler Orin Julie (27) originally enlisted in the military prosecutor's office, but after a long struggle that included reaching the head of the IDF, General Orna Barbibai, she managed to land as a fighter in the Home Front Command's rescue and rescue companies. Her personal story reveals the difficulties women Who want to serve as warriors - beyond the "normal" physical and mental challenges of the job.
Little Sun, Photo: Shay Franco
"My partner at the time just dumped me because it did not suit him that his 'little' woman would not be at his house. Your war as a woman is twofold: you have to fight the enemy lines and also fight for your place, prove you deserve and deserve you. I was attached to the battalion commander as the first woman in the position, there were company commanders who asked my battalion contemptuously: 'This one with the nails, is it in your commander?'
He would reply to them with a sentence I remember to this day: "When Orin has to attack a terrorist, the nails will not be what will stop her."
According to Julie, "As soon as I got to training in Camp 80 I fell in love with the intensity that the military made me feel, with weapons and uniforms. My family was against the move, but the desire to fight burned in me. "
Orin Julie during her military service, Photo: Matan Narkis, Oren Ben Hakon
Journalist Little Shemesh, 38, who served as a Border Patrol fighter during the difficult years of the second intifada and is currently a lecturer in Israel and around the world on her military service, says of similar challenges:
There was no shortage of men who were bothered by a woman entering Hebron with a vest and weapons.
Clashes with feminism always happen, but in the military it happens more radically.
Despite this, the overwhelming majority cooperated and saw us as equals. "
First the General Staff - and only then Golani
Other armies in the West are also advancing towards the integration of women in all martial arts - including those that require particularly great physical effort.
While women flying fighter jets have been a common vision in the U.S. Air Force for decades, it was only in July this year that the first woman completed the grueling training course of the Navy Special Forces.
The fighter, whose identity is as confidential as the other special forces fighters, successfully passed one of the most difficult courses in the U.S. Armed Forces, lasting 37 weeks.
Fellowship of fighters in the Combat Collection Corps
It could be assumed that the opening of combat roles for women in IDF ground forces would be done "from light to heavy" - that is, first in the regular units and only then in the elite units; The day when we see women fighting in the Sheldag, the 13th Squadron or the General Staff patrol is not so far away.
"In the elite units it will be much easier to integrate fighters. These are small units with very high quality personnel, and from a gender point of view the challenges are likely to be smaller in these places. "The fact that they are women does not matter to me - as long as they meet the criteria."
Itzik, on the other hand, is more cautious about integrating female fighters into "regular" brigades.
"The cultural interest that exists here must not be ignored," he says.
"In these units there are people from different backgrounds and with different worldviews. If we talk about Golani, where many religious fighters serve, then for some a woman's military service is a halachically problematic thing, and all the more so the service of a warrior. This tension can hurt. In the cohesion of the unit and ultimately also in its ability to win.And here begins the dilemma: Should women be included in these units after all?
Ezer Weizmann, Photo: Mickey French, at the camp
"The characteristics of service in a conventional battalion are terribly intimate: living together in a tent, being together in ambush, with great physical closeness all the time. It should be looked at not as an issue centered physically, but as a cultural issue. "It is right to create this tension in the battalions only because of the principle of equality. My position is that we are not there yet, and we may be there in the future. However, if you put two women in a unit like a fish, nothing will happen."
Despite these things, it seems that in the long run cautious optimism can be maintained even as to the inclusion of women in units which on paper are more “vulnerable” to cultural tensions. Warriors have been serving in the Border Guard for about two decades, and their integration is considered a success. "I aimed for the Border Police because I knew in advance that women were involved in all units and in all positions, and that the corps operated in the most dangerous and 'burning' sectors," says Shemesh. Challenging years give tremendous satisfaction. "
Regarding the integration of women in elite units, Shemesh believes that the opportunity should be open to all but the demands should not be lowered to facilitate them: "True feminism should also be expressed in duties - not just in rights. It is not equality and we have lost the reason why we came together. The most important value for the army is striving for victory, and there is nothing to do - there are physical differences between women and men. The continuum and meet exactly the same conditions - please. "
Col. Ronen Itzik, Photo: Shaul Nagar
Julie holds a different position.
"Reality speaks for itself: the year is 2021 and I as a woman, even if I had enlisted today, I could not try to be accepted into the elite units. I think there are women who are stronger than a certain man - and yet he is entitled to the opportunity and not. "Everyone has the opportunity to examine each one as an individual, and not according to what he has between his legs."
Girls in the turret?
One of the most controversial issues regarding the inclusion of girls in combat roles is the ongoing pilot of armored combatants.
From the outset it was decided that the warriors would not be incorporated into the tank brigades, which in case of war included were to cross the border and face the armored formations of the enemy armies;
Instead they were incorporated into tanks assimilated into the border defense system, which are not designed to deal with hostile armored forces.
The first phase of the pilot ended with mixed results: the fighters received positive reviews, and some of them even successfully completed a tank commanders course;
On the other hand, there were gaps in the performance of several key exercises, including the rate of shelling.
Former chief of staff Izenkot handed over the decision on the matter to his successor, Aviv Kochavi, who, after a period of freezing, renewed the pilot and even expanded it.
Training of the Armored Corps, Photo: Yedia Cohen (photographed has nothing to do with the news)
"There is no doubt that in order to operate a machine like a tank, which requires strength in terms of carrying shells and handling heavy mechanical systems, you need physiological abilities and physical fitness at a certain level," says Col. Res. Itzik. "Simply put, you need strength and body mass. If men are compared to women in this matter - the body mass of men is greater on average, but a generalization is made here that I do not agree with: just as there are men who are less suitable for fighting in tanks, so too with women. But if a particular woman is equipped with the required abilities, there is no reason why she should not function well as a tanker.
"In all my military service I have been in the field and I have seen men who are more suitable to operate the tank and its systems, and also those who are less. But beyond the level of competence, there is the matter of motivation. "Choose and come with a very high motivation. It is a factor that affects the quality of execution and ultimately also the ability to achieve victory in operational activity." Shemesh reinforces his words: "We are by definition better fighters, by the very fact that we asked for it and chose to be there." Julie adds in this context that "women warriors complain significantly less than men."
Itzik argues that even the fact that combatants load shells at a slower rate than combatants should not automatically disqualify them from serving in tanks.
"It may be on average that women's ability to load shells is lower, but that does not mean it is below the threshold required for missions required in some sectors.
"In the last decade, the IDF has tripled the number of fighters in regular service, and they are successfully holding the borders with Egypt and Jordan.
Integrating women into combat roles works - and even works great.
I can state unequivocally that alongside the professional arguments there is also a chauvinistic aspect to the opposition to the integration of warriors.
"On the other hand, there is another aspect that is not often talked about - the economic aspect: for the military, fighters are supposed to serve in the reserve until the age of 40, but for women it can be more problematic because of pregnancies and births. The IDF knows how to include women in every unit, and that's not happening right now because it is not letting that happen.
But just as Alice Miller was, followed by the Artillery and Armored Warriors - there will be more women paving the way for more and more units and roles.
It is not a question of 'if', but of 'when' ".