JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli soldiers can request not to serve alongside women and to be excused from any military event that goes against their beliefs, according to a new directive.
The directive by Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, published Sunday and distributed to all units, comes as Eisenkot has decided not to establish any additional Nahal Haredi battalions, made up exclusively of haredi Orthodox soldiers, and integrate them into regular units of the Israel Defense Forces, Walla reported.
Soldiers can now request not to serve with women nor share living spaces.
Formal events, such as Independence Day and Memorial Day ceremonies, Holocaust Remembrance Day, services for fallen soldiers and Yitzchak Rabin’s memorial day, will still be required and more difficult for soldiers to get out of, according to the new directive.
Other events, such as cultural or educational ones, including where females sing in front of men, will be at the discretion of the unit’s commander, according to the directive.
