Day 588 - What's behind the huge surge in female fighters in the IDF?

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. This week, political correspondent Tal Schneider steps in for Berman.

Unforgettable images of the Caracal's female tank unit crushing Hamas terrorists infiltrating southern Israel on October 7, 2023, brought home the realization that not only are women serving in the IDF, they're as eager -- and able -- to fight as their brothers in arms.

Scheider describes a recent Knesset committee that discussed the phenomenon of the IDF's growing number of women warriors, which now make up almost 21 percent of all fighting forces.

We review the history of battles to have female fighters in the IDF -- including several benchmark Supreme Court cases which paved the way for the next generation.

Schneider, who has spent the past several months researching the contribution these women warriors made on October 7, talks about where the army stands today -- and what is on the horizon for other fighting units being opened up to women.

Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and the video was edited by Thomas Girsch.

IMAGE: Mix-gender Caracal battalion troops at the end of their basic training. (IDF)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's Friday Focus. Today is Friday, May 16th, Day 588 of the war. I'm your host, Deputy Editor Amanda Borschelle, and here with our political correspondent Tal Schneider, filling in for Laser Bearman, who is now on reserve duty. Tal, thank you so much for joining me today.
0:21.6	Hi, Amanda.
0:22.3	It's good to be here.
0:23.5	It is such a pleasure to have you back.
0:25.6	And regular listeners of our sister podcast, The Daily Briefing,
0:29.2	will have noticed that you have not been on the podcast for several months
0:33.0	because you have been working on a book project.
0:36.1	So our conversation today is a bit of a launching pad
0:40.0	to explain a little bit of your book project, but we are going to focus today on women
0:45.1	warriors. So all of this and more when we're back.
0:56.6	Hi everyone. I'm Mikhail.
0:57.5	And I'm Noam.
1:04.3	And we'd like to invite you to wander with us on our podcast, Wondering Jews with Mikhail and Noam, a podcast from Anfax.
1:08.9	On Wondering Jews, that's Wondering with an O, not wandering, wondering, wondering. We wonder together about big questions being asked by
1:12.2	Jewish people and about the Jewish people, challenging ideas, exploring traditions, and maybe even
1:17.1	arguing just a little bit along the way. Sometimes it's just the two of us, and other times we're
1:21.8	joined by some fascinating guests. For us, it's not about arriving at a neatly packaged answer, but rather about the journey
1:29.3	of wandering together and leaving every episode having learned something new. So if you love
1:34.9	thoughtful discussions that bring fresh perspectives, join us. Subscribe to Wondering Jews
1:40.4	with Michal and Noam wherever you get your podcast.
1:53.5	And I'm Amanda Borschal Dan here back with our political correspondent Tal Schneider.
1:59.0	Tal, let's talk about some of the new figures that we've been seeing in the past several weeks in terms of what percentage of women
	...

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