T wo weeks ago I wrote that the will to live and thrive is stronger in Israel than in other Western nations. As one of my proofs I mentioned that political correctness does not trump national security in Israel. For example the airport security checks employ some form of profiling (whether admitted or not) as a result of which five guys in kaffiyehs can expect more rigorous scrutiny than a grandmother in a wheelchair.
Those accolades for Israel’s common sense approach to national defense were it would seem hasty and overly optimistic.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recently announced its intention to integrate women into combat tanks. That decision represents a double dose of political correctness. Apart from the obvious feminist agenda to prove that anything men can do women can do too the placement of women in tanks is part of the IDF’s effort to de-Judaize the defense forces and to show the national-religious world who’s boss.
The national-religious now constitute close to half of the junior officer corps. And the tank corps has long been one of the strongest bastions of national-religious service. The heads of the various hesder yeshivos which combine Torah study and military service will not permit their students to serve in tanks with women soldiers. The IDF however is prepared to lose some of its finest soldiers and top commanders from a vital branch of the service in the interest of gender equality.
