Police officers rescued two female IDF soldiers on Sunday in Bnei Brak after a mob surrounded them when they came to carry out a welfare visit as part of their service, a police statement said. Officers protected the soldiers as rioters confronted a police car and hurled objects at it. Authorities reported 23 arrests.
Footage from the scene spread quickly, as did condemnation by politicians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident serious and unacceptable while stressing that it came from an extremist minority that does not represent the broader ultra-Orthodox public.
Shas leader Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) leader Yitzhak Goldknopf also issued condemnations, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir described harm to soldiers by Israeli civilians as crossing a red line.
Israel cannot accept harassment of soldiers by a mob as just another ugly clip on a feed. Soldiers in uniform are not props for internal political posturing; they are public servants and they serve those who agree with them, the people who vote against them, and those who resent the system they represent.
Assault on female soldiers part of a wider narrative
The incident is part of a wider Israeli narrative that has unfolded since October 7, 2023, about the expanding role, responsibility, and burden shouldered by women in uniform, and the price they pay in doing so.
For over two years now, this newspaper has shown women fighting, commanding, rescuing, gathering intelligence, and holding the line under pressure. Caracal Battalion commander Lt.-Col. Or Ben-Yehuda has described female fighters engaging terrorists on October 7 and staying in the fight under extreme conditions.
Women have also been sent into arenas that were once discussed theoretically, then argued about, then postponed. The Post has reported on a co-ed battalion whose female troops went into Gaza, a first for the unit.
In late 2024, The Jerusalem Post reported on operational missions that took female combat soldiers into Lebanon, with their work framed as part of intelligence-gathering and operational support.
Their courage also includes roles that are less discussed around Israel’s Shabbat tables. IDF field observers, many of them young women, have borne a responsibility that the country did not fully appreciate until it had no choice.
Zamir has said female observers are “the eyes of the state.” He said, plainly, that the IDF failed on October 7 while the observers on duty did not fail, describing their actions as courageous and heroic under fire.
Meanwhile, the numbers have increased. In 2025, the Post reported that the IDF had recruited over 5,000 women for combat roles, marking a new record. The “why” is not mysterious. Many Israeli women watched October 7 and the months that followed and decided that, in this era, military service was part of adulthood.
These women are doing God’s work. They are saving lives. They are helping Israel stand back up.
Clearly, there are those in Israel who must still learn a basic national rule: Keep your hands off them. Do not surround them. Do not chase them. Do not spit at them. Do not scream at them as if you own the street and they are trespassers. The IDF uniform represents the entire country, including those who do not wear it.
A community can oppose a draft policy. A community can demand a different legal arrangement. A community can protest. None of that grants it the right to humiliate soldiers, especially those carrying out a welfare visit.
Anyone claiming religious justification for harassing women in uniform should hear the words used by haredi leaders in their condemnations, including language about desecration and disgrace. This is hilul Hashem (desecration of God’s name).
Israel also needs a practical response: Prosecutions should move quickly, and there should be severe consequences. A society teaches norms through enforcement as much as through rhetoric.
Political leaders who rely on haredi voters should stop treating the issue as “someone else’s problem.” The state should also ensure that soldiers are kept safe in public spaces, as it does other vulnerable public servants.
Israel has lived through two and a half years of wartime reality since October 7, 2023 and far too many soldiers and civilians have paid the ultimate price. It has carried too much. It has asked too much of the people who serve.
The very least Israel can do is protect the women who wear their uniform with pride and do the hard work.