"It's not about gender - it's about abilities": The first Operations Officer in Yahalom

"It is a privilege for me to reach this position, it has nothing to do with being a woman or a man. It is a statement that women can sit in key positions that were not necessarily held by them in the past — and succeed in them. It is a statement in general, to the army, to other women — that it is not about gender, it is about your abilities, what you know how to bring to the table." This is what Major A. (27) shared, the first woman to fill her role as Operations Officer in the elite Yahalom unit (Special Engineering Operations Unit). In August 2017, Major A. from Holon was drafted into the commander's course in the Magal array. "When I was drafted into the army, I didn't see myself staying in the system," she says. "I was a commander at a very young age, after five months I was commanding a squad of recruits. Somewhere there I realized that this is my place, that I love it very much. After a year in the IDF, the realization fell into place." After a variety of command and staff roles, and with the completion of a bachelor's degree, she competed for a field position and was assigned as a training officer in Yahalom.

Full female power

On October 8, 2023, A. was supposed to finish her role, but the war that broke out changed the plans. A. extended her role in the unit, after which she continued as a combat training commander at Bahad 1, at the end of which she was assigned to the position she holds today — Operations Officer of the Yahalom unit, the first woman in the position. According to A., her promotion has a part in a larger picture related to the integration of women in core roles in the combat array. "It is very significant in the army that there are women in key positions. These are things that were not customary in the past. My last two roles were not 'classic' in my promotion path. Yahalom Operations Officer did not exist before, not in my array and not in the IDF in general. Usually a role for male combat soldiers. Also the role as combat training commander at Bahad 1, I am the first for the position in general. There was no such role before, the first to open the track and was responsible for the 3 battalions together."

A. is indeed a trailblazer in the operations wing, but apart from her, the unit's headquarters is mostly composed of a team of talented women. "Most of the headquarters that changed in the unit was replaced by women. Also under me there is full female power — the operations officer and the special operations officer, the training officer, my assistant," she shared with pride. Together with them, an information security officer also serves in the wing. "Their suitability for the role is based purely on suitability," she added beyond any doubt. A. also remembers roles she filled where she was the only female commander in the room. "Now I am surrounded by such an environment, but there were also roles that were not. Many times I found myself sitting in a discussion when I was the only woman. For me, it was never an issue, I always focused on what I know how to bring to the table, what is my X-factor as an officer. I was never interested in the environment I am in, but where I can contribute."

By virtue of her work, A. was well acquainted with the incident in which the activity of a team of female combat soldiers in Yahalom was canceled because they were refused to be accepted at a base where soldiers of the Haredi Hashmonaim Brigade serve. "There was a coordination gap there. As soon as it happened, we knew how to provide the answer, to coordinate it again and go down more into details so that this activity would happen. It happens that there are malfunctions in coordination during wartime and we know how to handle it quickly."

"It was a crazy operation"

A. was also acquainted with another event in which the unit's female combat soldiers were refused entry to a location in Gaza because Yeshiva students were staying there. "It's complex, I think there are things that the army is implementing, it takes time also for an environment that is not necessarily used to it, to contain. I think that over time things will work out." She asked to refer specifically to the unit's female combat soldiers, who are an integral part of her work: "I was in the unit when the pilot of female combat soldiers was drafted here. It was amazing to see then, and certainly amazing to see now. They have very polished mechanisms, they know how to work, professionals, super-experts, something special. And I don't say this because they are from my unit. Usually, such things don't happen to us. When you do good coordination and close things as they should be — there shouldn't be malfunctions of this kind."

To summarize an intensive year of the unit's activity, A. points to two events that she remembers especially. The first, which was published last April, is a broad operation to locate, destroy, and neutralize underground tunnels in the Kantara area in southern Lebanon. As part of the activity, forces of the 7th Brigade and Yahalom unit soldiers carried out targeted raids towards Hezbollah underground tunnels with a total length of about 2 kilometers. A. shared: "From our point of view, it was a crazy operation, which the unit dealt with a lot. Our soldiers inserted explosives into the route and destroyed a tunnel network that is a vital asset of the enemy."

The second event, which was published two months later, is the destruction of an underground route in the area of the village of Majdal Zoun. In the IDF Spokesperson's announcement, it was written that "the findings from the activity in the village show that the village was fortified and full of terrorist infrastructure. In addition to the significant underground route that was destroyed in the area, now two more routes were destroyed." A. says that this is a "very significant event. Using the entire toolbox that the unit knows how to bring, and reaching such results of accurate and high-quality destruction of critical assets. This is the unit's X-factor."