An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson announced Jan. 16 the appointment of Major T. (her name was not divulged by the army) as squadron commander, making her the first female pilot in this position. But alongside congratulations, there were also rabbis who expressed anger over the appointment and against IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have been in far-off India, yet he sent a message Jan. 17 in support of Eizenkot. "I'm proud of this," Netanyahu said. "Not only will I not condemn the chief of staff. I praise him and the commander of the air force. I expect to see more appointments like this."

Despite Netanyahu's enthusiastic response to this historic appointment, he avoided condemning the rabbis' harsh comments. He did not demand that they apologize to Eizenkot, or even to the women now serving in the IDF. Coalition politics may have been behind Netanyahu's decision to ignore the rabbis' extreme comments, even though they bordered on incitement against women or even calls for the troops to refuse orders.

When Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, rabbi of the settlement of Beit El and leader of the religious Zionist movement, ruled that it is forbidden to serve in the IDF until there is complete separation between men and women, he was effectively calling on his followers to refuse to enlist. These serious remarks appeared on the website Kipa in response to a young man's question as to whether he should enlist in the IDF, given the way men and women serve together. Aviner's response resulted in an uproar, but they also led Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, rabbi of the town of Safed, to call for the firing of Eizenkot.