IDF Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot surprised ministers at Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting when he declared that contrary to reports, he does not plan to deploy women to the front lines.
"I do not envision, at this point, women being integrated into IDF units leading the charge [in battle]," he said. "Some people have tried to accuse me of being too feminist. But I'm not a feminist, I'm not a chauvinist, I'm not anything. There is integration, but everything needs to be in moderation."
Eizenkot added that "some of the statements that were made in this context were uninformed and driven by interests."
A number of ministers, including Construction and Housing Minister Uri Ariel, criticized Eizenkot for highlighting women's military roles in official army publications.
"I don't understand why there is an overload of articles about transgender, gay and lesbian [soldiers] and women's service," Ariel told Eizenkot. "I see pages upon pages in the [newspapers'] weekend supplements featuring girls in tanks and photos taken by the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. Why do we need that? You know it's controversial."
In response, Eizenkot said the IDF Spokesperson's Unit is "not my personal spokesperson. It is defined as that IDF's spokesperson."
Ariel continued: "We all know the IDF has all kinds of genders, but it is a stretch to turn this into a source of national pride."
