Last Friday, Israel Today reported that the IDF team examining the integration of women in combat roles in the IDF recommended that the Chief of Staff open the 669th Air Force Unit for Women's Service, and allow women to differentiate into the unit. In a gender pilot, and only later will the women be integrated into units alongside men. It was also announced that an announcement will be made later about another pilot of a mixed infantry battalion for combatants.
The decision was made against the background of the warriors' petition, which demands that the classifications be opened to women in all the special units, to which the army is supposed to respond by the end of the month.
As expected, the news provoked waves from every possible direction.
"On the way to dramatic change?"
The sub-headline of the initial article in this newspaper asked, "The 'regressive' do not stop in red," shouted the chairman of the Noam party, and the IDF spokesman's announcements on the various platforms also attributed a historic touch to the decision.
But the truth is that alongside the joy of the proper move, one has to keep in mind what the team will convene and what is expected of him to present by next Tuesday.
The answer to this question is not which units he recommends opening for women, but which units he states the army has no choice but to close.
Therefore, as precedent-setting and exciting as the news of the opening of the elite unit may be, it alone is insufficient.
There is no other way to interpret the language of the law, and the court would do well to require a satisfactory explanation from the military regarding any unit that remains closed.
By the way, in the first hearing of the petition, the judges commented on this to the army representative and put him to the mistake at the starting point, according to which the team will examine which units can be opened to women.
The representative's only answer was to indicate the staff established and request to wait for his conclusions.
Judging by the news over the weekend, there is no need to hold your breath in anticipation of detailed reasoning.
Moreover, the decision to establish a pilot, rather than an immediate opening, allows the IDF to drag on and ease procrastination. This suspicious concern has something to rely on. - which was first successfully agreed, later it was decided to freeze it, then it was decided to expand it, and four years after its launch there are still no final conclusions about it. The expected.
In his book "Why Who is Michael ?!"
Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eliezer Shakedi says that as commander of the Air Force, he recommended the opening of all units in the corps for women's service, including 669 and Sheldag.
Not the Yohalam, Shakedi was also the one who invested in the integration of the ultra-Orthodox in significant service in the corps and insisted on recruiting the best among them. To teach us that striving for substantive equality is not a position. It is simply the right thing to do.
Therefore, alongside the understandable excitement about the decision, it is more important to ask: why is the unit still closed, and like other units?
And why in 2022 does the IDF still sort by gender and not by professional criterion, and how many more petitions will be required until the obvious happens?
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
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