The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday insisted that men and women won’t serve together inside the same tanks, in response to a threat by the leaders of 12 yeshivas who said earlier that they would no longer send their students to join tank units because of a pilot plan to integrate women into the Armored Corps.

The yeshivas are all part of the Hesder program, which allows observant young men, typically national religious, to combine several years of Torah studies with a shortened military service, currently set at one year and five months.

“After approximately two and a half years of intense, multi-front and unprecedented war, during which the operational missions of the IDF were expanded, and the burden on the reserve forces increased significantly, the IDF needs every male and female combat soldier,” the military said in a statement.

“As the people’s army, the IDF places the highest importance on integrating all populations, while making a great effort to preserve their way of life and needs, in a manner that does not harm one population at the expense of another,” the IDF said.

The rabbis in their letter wrote that they “take a very serious view of the decision by the High Court of Justice to require the IDF to integrate female combat soldiers” in the Armored Corps, after the court ruled last month that the army must begin a trial program for female soldiers to serve in the corps by November, following repeated delays by the military.

“The High Court of Justice did not instruct the IDF to enlist female soldiers into the Armored Corps, but rather instructed it to conduct the planned pilot on the matter,” the military said.

The IDF said it is “working to integrate women into combat roles wherever possible.”

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