Inside Israel’s Co-ed Combat Unit
A female soldier from the mixed-sex Caracal Battalion in action during training near the Israeli-Egyptian border. Image by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
A female soldier from the mixed-sex Caracal Battalion in action during training near the Israeli-Egyptian border. Image by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
Like Israeli men, women are required to serve in the military, and they make up about 3 percent of combat soldiers in the I.D.F. In the Sisterhood, Noga Gur-Arieh wrote that while she didn’t serve in a combat role, she’s glad other Israeli women have the right to do so.
This week, NPR took a look inside the I.D.F.’s elite Caracal Battalion, which is 60 percent female.
Leora Prince, a 21-year-old sergeant from New Jersey who made aliyah to serve in the I.D.F., told NPR that switching to Caracal was the best decision she ever made. And her commander, Capt. Yaron Eyal, said he trusts Prince and the other female troops to watch his back.
But Miri Eisen, a retired colonel, said there’s still a glass ceiling in the I.D.F. “I think every military is a boys club,” she told NPR. “It’s still a majority of men who are going to choose that way of life.”
What do you think? Have you served in the I.D.F. or do you know women who have?
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
