Religious soldiers refuse to ride in Hummer driven by female soldier

A group of religious soldiers in the reserves refused last week to participate in a training exercise that required them to ride in jeeps driven by female soldiers, Haaretz has learned. The incident took place when a group of armored corps battalion reservists from Northern Command attended the national ground troop training exercise at Tze'elim base in the south.

The troops train with large Hummer jeeps, used to simulate tanks and other armored vehicles. The Hummers are driven by female soldiers while the reservists act as tank commanders. Some religious reservists balked at riding in vehicles driven by women. A battalion officer said, "There was an atmosphere of a refusal to follow orders, even if it didn't actually come to that."

After consultations with the training center's rabbi and the brigade commander, a compromise was reached in which religious soldiers who refused to ride alone with a woman driver would instead be accompanied by another male soldier. It was also decided that, contrary to standard procedure, tanks that were "hit" in the simulation would not be left out in the field but would be joined by another vehicle. The soldiers who had complained agreed to train for a day under these conditions.

Some of them were released the following day - the official reason given was a shortage of vehicles. However, one of the officers involved said that "it looked bad that they released those soldiers [who had complained]."

An army document drawn up four years ago and entitled "Proper Integration" addresses the issue of religious sensibilities and the separation of male and female soldiers. According to the document, nothing prevents a male soldier from riding with a female soldier in a Hummer, among other reasons because of the vehicle's relative spaciousness, which means physical contact can be avoided. Army Chief Rabbi Amichai Rontzki addressed the subject in an interview a year and a half ago, saying, "The position of female Hummer driver is inappropriate, but that is what we were able to achieve in the context of the [document]."

According to sources in the army's ground force operations, incidents such as the one last week at Tze'elim are not uncommon and increasing numbers of religious soldiers are requesting a stricter separation between male and female soldiers.

The IDF spokesman said in response that the claim that religious soldiers refused to participate in the training because the vehicles were driven by women is baseless. All the soldiers in the battalion participated on the first day, the spokesman said. On the second day, as initially planned, 13 soldiers were released, including three religious soldiers. However, other religious soldiers continued to participate in the exercise.