Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumReligious Soldiers Must Attend Ceremonies With Women Singing, IDF Rules
January 2, 2012
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Religious Israel Defense Forces soldiers will not be excused from official military ceremonies at which women sing, according to an official ruling.
Monday's decision by Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz comes following the recommendation of a special committee, which also determined that soldiers could request permission to be absent from performances by females during cultural and private unit events.
Religious cadets walked out of an official ceremony last year that featured the singing of female soldiers. The cadets were removed from the officer training program.
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http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/01/02/3090990/official-ruling-religious-soldiers-not-exempt-from-ceremonies
ProgressiveProfessor
(22,144 posts)pelsar
(12,283 posts)its a subtle but tried and true method as evidenced in Pakistan and Turkey has shown..start with the military, work your way up, start making changes ...and welcome to the "new world"
ProgressiveProfessor
(22,144 posts)Not in the national character.
King_David
(14,851 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)Once again the IDF makes the right call.
Thanks for posting!
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)I was at a Christmas party last year where someone regrettably intervened with a Playstation and a copy of the game "Singstar". After five consecutive performances of the abovementioned song I absented myself for the remainder of the evening, IDF directives about female singing be damned.
I would likewise include within the parameters of the above the song "Do-wah-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-do".
oberliner
(58,724 posts)I know that you are our resident expert on that country, so I was wondering if you could provide some insights into how their military handles interactions between male and female soldiers.
Both within the actual armed forces of Lebanon and the de-facto armed forces in Hezbollah.
shaayecanaan
(6,068 posts)there is a plenary ban in Lebanon on the singing of "Doo-wah-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-doo" given that the phrase in Arabic translates roughly as "President Assad sucks donkey balls", a sentiment which if uttered out of context is liable to lead to misunderstandings. This factoid was unfortunately unknown to Henry Kissinger at a late-night karaoke session during the 1978 shuttle diplomacy talks with Syria, and the peace talks were never really the same after that.
You can read all about it in my PhD thesis: "US-Lebanese cultural exchanges 1947-2003: Singing doo-wah-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-doo".
oberliner
(58,724 posts)I appreciate your efforts to elevate the discussion here.