YAEL DAYAN, the daughter of Moshe Dayan, one of Israel's most famous war heroes is co-sponsoring a Knesset Bill to enable women soldiers to volunteer for the first time for combat roles.
The legislation, strongly supported by women deputies across the political spectrum in the 120-seat parliament, has prompted a bitter public argument between Ms Dayan, a member of the ruling Labour Party, and Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister.
At last Sunday's Cabinet meeting, Mr Rabin voiced strong opposition to the Bill, which is also disliked by many senior officers. "I am totally against this," Mr Rabin told ministers, including two women, Shulamit Aloni and Ora Namir, who both support the proposed change to military regulations. "What happens if a woman falls into captivity? Who will be responsible for what happens to her?"
Ms Dayan, dismissed Mr Rabin's objection as "total nonsense". She said: "I think men being captured is just as bad. Does a woman hurt more than a man? It is terrible when anyone is captured."
Even before the final debate on the floor of the male-dominated Knesset, the new Bill has exposed the myth surrounding the role played by Israeli women soldiers. Women conscripts are usually given tasks such as making coffee and filling out forms.
The army debate, which has broadened to cover women's roles in all parts of society, intensified last month when a senior military commander told school pupils preparing for army service that historically men had been warriors and women prostitutes. The commander was severely reprimanded, but was supported by many ultra-Orthodox Jews.
The new Bill has reinforced the case of Alice Miller, a 23-year-old aeronautics student, who is fighting in the courts the ban preventing her from becoming a pilot in the Israeli Air Force.
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