The IDF is afraid of feminists: The opening of special units for women will interfere with the army with the ultimate goal

After a few days of feminist populism, it's time to let the facts speak for themselves as well.

A comprehensive IDF study - which examined the physiological aspects of the differences between the male body and the female body, and the experience gained in the US Army - found that integrating combatants into elite units is unrealistic

Kalman Liebskind

11/06/2022

Saturday, 11 June 2022, 00:25 Updated: 23:17

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Anyone looking for an example of the low place where the discourse is about recruiting women for combat positions in the IDF could find it in the headline of Ynet, which updated on Tuesday about "anger over the threshold conditions for female combatants." To their response to the High Court, following a petition filed by several young women seeking to be allowed to differentiate into elite units.

In a reasoned document, the state detailed the findings, conclusions and recommendations of a special professional team set up to examine the possibility of including women in additional combat roles in the IDF. The most comprehensive conducted on the subject also from an international perspective, "ended with a recommendation not to expand the women's service to combat positions in special and elite units, along with pilots who will examine the integration of women in 669, the Air Force Rescue Unit and the Yahel Unit."

Ynet, it seems, did not read the document submitted to the High Court, which analyzes, among other things, the physical differences between the sexes, the various abilities, and the tendency to higher vulnerability and injuries in women. Instead, the news site contented itself with an interview with Osnat Levy The first tank in the IDF, which stated knowingly that "this is a joke", that "there is no research that supports the decisions they made", and that "they continue to put sticks in the wheels, the main thing is to please the radical bodies that do not want women in the army."

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It was recommended not to expand the women's service to combat positions in special and elite units (Photo: IDF Spokesman)

Along with this professional opinion, Ynet also interviewed the mother of one of the petitioners, who explained, as if a reasoned report had not been submitted just a moment ago, that "there is no reason to prevent girls from getting where they want to go."

Finally, the ruling of Yehudit Yehezkeli, a 92-year-old Palmach, who stated that it was a "political takeover of a certain sector," which she herself was a fighter despite being low, and in general, that this is not the country she prayed for, was also brought. The High Court had no coincidence.

Why do I take this article on Ynet so seriously? Because it reflects the level of discourse that has been going on here for many years around the issue of recruiting women to combat units. Zero facts. Zero reliance on data. Everything Begins and ends with a random scattering of populist feminist statements.

Journalists as politicians understand that if they want points in public discourse, they must flow with that spirit, and every officer is fine.

And another important rule has this discourse, and it states that wherever the radical feminist agenda clashes with reality, it is advisable to move the discussion elsewhere, and place the blame on the rabbis and the religious.

So yes, in the religious sector there are many who have a problem with the service involved in the combat units, but this issue has nothing to do with the IDF position, as expressed in the answer submitted this week to the High Court.

An answer that explained and explained why there is no room at this time to further expand the service of women in combat roles in infantry brigades and special units.

Anyone looking for another example to understand in which shallow places the debate on this matter is deteriorating is advised to go to the tweet tweeted this week by the Minister of Economy, Maj. Gen. Orna Barbibai.

Barbibai, once the head of the IDF, saw in the media half a word about the threshold requirements set by the IDF for women to enter the special and elite units, with details of the required weight and height, and was quick to respond.

"General Amiram Levin was a brave fighter and commander of the General Staff Reconnaissance Squadron at a height of 1.59 m and weighing less than 60 kg," she wrote.

It is hard to imagine that the statement was made by someone who was once in charge of IDF personnel (Photo: Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel)

It is difficult to know where to begin to relate to this embarrassing remark, and it is even more difficult to imagine that the person who took it out was once in charge of IDF personnel. Amiram Levin, as far as I could check, was not a woman. He was a man. - For the benefit of those who are interested in learning the material, before he runs to tweet on Twitter - that tests he conducted have shown how much of an impact there is between women's bodies and men's bodies.

"The team found that women have physiological characteristics, which affect their ability to perform intense efforts of the type required in combat roles, and in particular in roles that include significant weight bearing, with emphasis on tasks characterized by prolonged leg movement while carrying heavy weights, as well as the risk of injuries. Over time, among other things, the team found that there was a significant difference, on average, between men and women in body size (height and weight), body composition (lean body mass and fat mass), physical fitness (maximum aerobic capacity), muscle strength, and other aspects. These, on average, are lower in women - in a way that affects their performance, the risk of injuries and damage to their health. "

Physiological differences

For the benefit of those who still have difficulty understanding the difference between Amiram Levin in his slim size, and a woman of the same size, we are told that the IDF inspection team reviewed the history of the integration of women in the IDF over the years.

In the 2000s, he notes, when women began to be assigned to combat roles in infantry infantry, they underwent training similar to that of male combatants in maneuvering brigades. In those years, the rate of injuries among combatants was particularly high. The training and service of combatants, and also in their bar of efforts.

It turned out that "even after the rate of injuries and the eagle decreased, the incidence of injuries among female fighters, and their resulting eagle, remained higher than the rate among fighters. For example, the incidence of stress fractures among women is 2-3 times higher than men serving in the same unit."

The team members, who wanted to demonstrate how small the chances are of finding enough women to reach the men's group in their physical level, cited an example from the world of sports, "where the records of elite athletes do not, as a rule, equal the records of elite athletes."

The physiological differences, "they wrote," affect the ability of women to perform operational-military activities that include carrying weights, and the risk of injuries as a result of participating in training and military activities, against the background of overload, intense efforts and weight-bearing. "

This is not the first time that the former head of the IDF has thrown baseless slogans in these contexts.

Barbibai also had evidence to prove her point.

"I did not invent anything," she wrote.

"The United States has already made such a decision in 2013, and recently the first infantry fighters in the U.S. military have been trained in 200 years.

It is clear to me that women in Israel do not fall short of any American warrior in their skills. "

The stories about the warriors from America accompany every discussion (Photo: Reuters)

And since these stories, about female combatants from America, accompany any discussion about opening more IDF units for women, it's worth going to the section in the report of the inspection team, which shows what happened to women in the U.S. military. In October 2019, there were only 650 women in the Army, and this includes positions in which the IDF has long served women.

As of 2019, about 231 officers and female soldiers have joined the Marine Corps in combat roles, and women generally serve it at a low rate.

American experience indicates high physical demands placed on women seeking to enlist in combat roles, resulting in a very high eagle rate of women, much of it during initial job training.

Thus, for example, the percentage of eagles among women in infantry combat positions stands at 49%, and in armor at 72%. If that is not enough, the rate of injuries among women in the U.S. military is twice as high as the rate of injuries among men, and their risk of developing high strain 3.6 times more than men.

In a logical world, the discussion about women's combat service would have started with these figures.

In such a world, the women's lobbies would first and foremost take care of the safety and body of the women who enlist in combat roles.

In such a world, Orna Barbibai, Miri Regev ("Women can be warriors in elite units and bring a new story to the People's Army") and others, could not be satisfied with hollow texts that are not based on anything, but are required to explain what kind of feminism sends women to places endangering their health , Just to advance the agenda.

But it is, that we live in a reality where there is no real possibility of having a discussion, and whoever disagrees with the "right" narrative, is immediately castrated as dark.

I remembered this week what happened to Avigdor Kahalani, who was interviewed by me about six years ago and expressed his opposition to the service of women in tanks.

"Ultimately, a woman's role as a mother and to have children," he explained, "after the traumas of war she will be completely different. The same maternal emotion, maternal caress, and the ability to breastfeed and give birth, will not be the same."

Kahalani then fired a crossfire at these remarks, and one can only imagine what Kokoriko would have become if in addition to the things he said he was equipped, God forbid, also with a beard and a large cap.

When the IDF is afraid

Let us return to the findings of the IDF inspection team. This team defined "physiological threshold conditions derived from the operational requirements in each position", indicating that "the number of female soldiers who may have suitable data for deployment in combat positions in special and elite units is particularly small (single female soldiers). .

This is because in order to meet the operational requirements in these units, while adequately managing the risk of injuries, physiological data - body indices and performance indices - are required that exist in a very small number of women ... Against this background, among other things, it was found that women in these positions may To be complex. "And to sum up:" In light of all this, the team recommended, at this time, not to expand the women's service to combat roles in special and elite units. "

To understand what this means, the team specifies that an infantry fighter must be equipped with basic equipment weighing at least 37 kg, and in case a fighter is required to carry additional means (PKL), their weight will be added to the weight of basic equipment. Additional officers are required to carry, since the average weight carried by a soldier in this platoon is about 40-50 kg.

"In special and elite units," the ones the women are now seeking to join, "soldiers are required to carry weapons and equipment of a higher weight, and some of a much higher weight."

But it does not end at these weights either.

The team members remarked that sometimes an IDF fighter - both in the infantry and in the special units - is required to replace his comrades in the middle of a mission, "while carrying the personal equipment and personnel required in their job, in case of operational need ...". : "In light of the physiological differences between men and women, and their impact on meeting operational requirements on the battlefield, integrating combatants into infantry units poses a significant challenge in terms of versatility and substitutability."

And this is even before we mentioned the average reserve service of women, when according to the team the determination "the duration of the effective service of women in reserve service is not long".

We heard many this week who explained that the IDF, in the criteria it presented to the High Court for admitting women to the elite units, set unreasonable threshold conditions.

We heard those who claimed that the chief of staff also knows that a woman who weighs 78 kg and runs 3,000 meters in 14:50 minutes and performs 10 tension increases, is a woman who is almost non-existent.

And here is my claim to the IDF. Because the IDF knows that this is the case.

And because of this, a sane IDF would return to the judges, and instead of throwing these tables on their desks, he would explain to them in simple Hebrew that there are almost no girls suitable for the special units, and therefore, he has no unnecessary time, unnecessary energies and resources for mass sorting of women. Finding the right one, and establishing the right infrastructure that will allow her to be the only fighter in the unit.

The sane IDF would explain that there are almost no girls who are suitable for the special units. Kochavi (Photo: screenshot, IDF Spokesman)

But the IDF is afraid. Or of the women's organizations and the feminist discourse, or of the High Court.

And so he plays this game, in which he makes it clear that he is willing to open 669 for women, but explains in the criteria that it does not really make sense to do so.

To all this need to add two more data that only increase the question marks.

The first stems from the fact that the former Air Force commander, Amikam Nurkin, opposed this women's pilot in 669, and it is not really clear what has changed since he retired.

The second, goes back a little more than two decades, to an article published at the beginning of the millennium in the Air Force magazine, which knew how to state: "Girls will not serve as fighters in 669."

"Many medical tests have shown," the reporter said, "that girls can not withstand the physical loads required of a 669th fighter. The air.

The Air Force, the details of the news item taught, tried to make changes to the training route to find ways to include fighters, and in the end the Air Force and the Personnel Division decided that this was not feasible.

"The conclusions reached indicated that the woman's body could not withstand the physiological loads created during the service of a fighter in 669," explained Lt. Col. Moshe, the unit's commander. "We examined all the parameters, including muscle mass and bone strength.

"Many studies, in the IDF and around the world, have shown that" seven physical efforts, such as those required of the unit's fighters, women can be irreversibly harmed. "

True, these are studies and tests conducted many years ago, but since no changes have been made in the woman's body since then, it is not clear what exactly has changed.

Promoting agendas

And having said that, the IDF of recent years has honestly bought the skepticism towards it. In everything related to the service of women in the IDF, the IDF is part of a campaign, whether it believes in it or is drawn to it. The army spokeswoman has dealt in recent years In an attempt to market every action as female heroism, and to push to the media front every female soldier who acted as expected of her.

An army that is engaged in advancing agendas, is an army that can not complain when treated with suspicion. The number of religious girls enlisting.

Warriors in the land arm (Photo: IDF Spokesman)

This is the opportunity to make it clear, against the background of this entire column, that I have nothing against girls' service in the IDF, secular as well as religious. On the contrary. The IDF as a body that deals with security and not with the promotion of social worldviews.

In any case, that story began in 2014, when the IDF passed on to Yedioth Ahronoth data that taught about a meteoric rise in the recruitment of religious girls to the IDF.

An increase of 73% in three years.

When the Knesset asked to learn more about this fascinating figure, and members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee turned to the IDF Planning and Personnel Division to obtain the official data, it turned out that the data provided to the newspaper were incorrect. , Very far from what the IDF presented.

IDF internal correspondence that reached me at the time taught about the deliberation that took place in the ACA, whether to report the mistake or continue with the bluff.

The officer in charge of the field passed on the truth data to her commanders, with the addition of her comment.

"We understand that the data is problematic to transfer, so we want to know what was agreed after the 'event' that took place about a month ago prior to the article in the newspaper."

The answer she received was amazing.

The IDF, it was decided, would continue to publish the incorrect data. "Suddenly, a figure that has already been presented."

and so it was.

The truth data compiled by the unit were thrown in the bin.

The data that came out continued to back up the wrong numbers that came out earlier.

In February 2017, these false data were also presented to the Knesset Subcommittee of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Let the IDF win

A few concluding remarks.

There is room for great appreciation for young women who want to contribute as much as possible, but the IDF is not a dream come true, nor is it another job. "It can not work that way.

The IDF is not an industrial enterprise, nor is it the municipal education department. It is an organization whose goal is to protect the country and defeat the enemy. Anything that helps these goals will be blessed. Anything that interferes with them will be moved

. But it is also quite likely that the IDF will think that the resources it will have to devote to those few fighters will interfere with its overarching goal.

It may just as well be that the Air Force is able to accept for the pilot a course wearing glasses with a low number, but it is quite reasonable if the Air Force commander says that the energies he will have to expend to sort out the eye problems of all recruits,

In general, women could promote the values ​​of equality through a struggle for the integration of players in the Premier League in football.

There is no doubt that here and there there are footballers who are able to fit into a game with men.

Why are they not fighting for it?

Because they know it will sound crazy and hurt their ultimate goal.

Well, you have to understand that it is just as crazy even when it comes to the elite units in the IDF. Leave the IDF.

Let the IDF win.

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