But the new policy, strongly endorsed by Israeli feminists, has so alarmed religious Zionists that they have warned they will boycott units where gender integration undermines religious standards of sexual modesty. Feminists may see integrated units as a steppingstone to achieving gender equality in Israel. UltraOrthodox leaders fully enjoy the discomfiture of religious Zionists and are brandishing the furor as proof that religious observance and military service do not mix. A situation that creates intimacy between the sexes, such as sharing the same tank or cramped quarters on a missile boat, is utterly unacceptable to an observant soldier. It is tanta-mount to compelling him to eat pork.
Some secularists mistakenly regard mixed combat units as a libido endurance test.
If the observant soldier were sincere in his commitments, they argue, then rubbing shoulders and other limbs with women wouldn t lead to other things. The army has promised a commission to study the issue, but the higher-ups are understandably distracted by other matters, and the crisis is building up. The rabbis who have attacked the new policy in radio interviews are themselves combat officers who prepare their pupils for combat service. Yet by allowing itself to be intimidated by radical feminists, the army is displaying contempt for an increasingly important reservoir of military talent. Given the degree of mutual suspicion between Israel s political subcultures, some religious Zionists view gender integration as an attempt to block the rise of religious Zionist officers.