Female troops refused to participate in Gaza closure
Photo: AP
First: Female troops refuse orders
Two IDF teachers disobey order to join infantry unit tasked with closing off Gaza Strip; one soldier says, ' I was not raised that way, but how else could I deal with the situation'
Following the recent wave of insubordinate soldiers who have refused to participate in pullout-related tasks, the first female soldiers are awaiting trial for refusing to take part in the closing off of the Gaza Strip.
Last week, the two IDF Education and Youth Corps servicewomen, residents of the West Bank settlements Kdumim and Alon Shvut, received an order to assist am army unit tasked with closing off the Gaza Strip ahead of the planned right-wing anti-pullout march to Gaza.
However, the military teachers refused to board a bus that was carrying troops to the area.
"They simply couldn't do it; they had tears in their eyes, but no one would listen to them," one of their friends said.
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The two are currently awaiting trail for insubordination.
The affair began last week, when it was decided to assign a number of female soldiers, some of whom are religious, to an infantry unit tasked with pullout-related activities.
The female soldiers were told that, once they graduated from the IDF's Instructors Course, they would be sent to an army base for four days of physical and mental training and then join the infantry unit.
The religious soldiers' attempt to ascertain the nature of the task they would be asked to carry out apparently fell on deaf ears.
Would not get on bus
On Sunday, with the start of the training period, the soldiers were told they would be sent to secure Gaza-area roads in the framework of the preparations for the anti-pullout march.
When the bus arrived to transfer the group to the Gaza area, two of the soldiers, students of the Bruria girl's yeshiva in Jerusalem, refused to board it.
"I did not want to disobey orders, I was not raised that way, but how else could I deal with the situation," one of them said.
The soldiers told their friends they do not fear being sent to prison but are saddened by the fact they would be relieved of their duties.
