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IDF to integrate women into elite air force unit

In another victory in the principle of gender equality, the Israel Defense Forces will now open its air force elite Rescue Unit 669 to women.
Female soldiers from the Israeli army's Caracal battalion take a break in their Hummer between patrols on June 12, 2007.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Friday morning that Chief of Staff of Aviv Kochavi has decided to expand the integration of women in the military by opening the air force’s elite Search and Rescue Unit 669 to female recruits. Kochavi is expected to make other, similar decisions over the next few days, including a decision to integrate women into the mobile unit of an infantry brigade.

Regardless of his final decision, however, Kochavi has until June 1 to respond to petitions submitted to the Supreme Court over his failure to integrate women more fully into the IDF.

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